2018. 2. 1

Japan Society of Civil Engineers
International Activities Center

IAC News No.64
Message from CECAR8 Local Organizing Committee
Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council (ACECC)’s triennial conference,the 8th Civil Engineering Conference in the Asian Region (CECAR8) will beheld in Tokyo in April, 2019. It will be the second time in 18 years since 2001 for
the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) to host a CECAR. Preparations by
the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), which was officially established in
April last year, are steadily progressing.
The main theme of the conference “Resilient Infrastructures in Seamless Asia”
has been appropriately chosen, in the sense that it is to take place in a country Masayasu Kayano
Chair, CECAR8 Local

that has frequently suffered severe natural disasters, including the Great East Organizing Committee
Japan Earthquake of 2011. CECAR8 should be an excellent opportunity, not only

(Kajima Corporation)

for sharing the knowledge and experience Japan obtained in disaster recovery and reconstruction, but also for
discussing the roles of civil engineers in building and maintaining resilient infrastructures in the Asian region.
A highlight of CECAR8 will be the technical sessions organized by pre-assigned conveners under specificdiscussion themes. Thanks to the active responses to our call, we will have about 45 diverse session topics, suchas infrastructure development policy and innovative technologies. The “Call for abstracts” has already beenposted at our official website, and we are hoping to see more submissions.
Another highlight of our offering in CECAR8 will be the technical tours. The conference will come a year aheadof the 2020 Olympics, and Tokyo will be buzzing with new construction and development. We will get
participants to see these projects where state-of-the-art construction technologies are used.
Last but not least, we are planning on special programs geared toward the younger generation of civil engineers.
The idea is to provide specific opportunities and forums for younger participants to discuss issues and networkwith their industry peers in other countries. We want to help them expand their professional horizons, andhopefully also deepen their interest, and actively join with others, in the international activities of JSCE.
CECAR8 is less than one year and a half away. The conference will not succeed without the active participationby the members of JSCE and other ACECC societies. We will do the best we can to ensure that it will be worth
your time and effort.
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Report on Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council (ACECC)
33rd Executive Committee Meeting in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
1. Overview
From the 21st to the 23rd of September 2017, the 33rd ACECC Executive Committee
Meeting was held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. A total of ten people from the JSCE
participated, including those connected with the ACECC Executive Secretariat, theLocal Organizing Committee for CECAR8 and the Committee on Asian Civil
Engineering Coordinating Council. The Mongolian Minister for Construction and
Urban Development also attended part of the meeting, reflecting the high level ofattention it received locally. The main proceedings of the meeting were as follows.
2. ACECC Technical Committee (TC) Activity Report and Establishment of the
ACECC TC Activity Award
The activities of all nine committees that are currently underway were reported by theTechnical Coordinating Committee, among which TC16 (Technical Committee

Masaaki Nakano
Chair, ACECCTechnical Coordinating
Committee(Nippon Koei Co., Ltd.)

concerning ITS for resolving city urban traffic problems) and TC21 (TechnicalCommittee concerning disaster reduction/prevention) are currently focused on Japan. Also, as a measure to
revitalize TC activities, establishment of the ACECC Technical Committee Activity Award, given to TCs that
contribute to the development of engineering in the Asia region, was approved.
3. CECAR8 in Tokyo Preparation Progress Report
At CECAR8, to be held in Japan, preparations are advancing to realize the ideals of ACECC at the time of its
foundation. An explanation of the preparation status of CECAR8 was given by Chairperson Masayasu Kayano
and Secretary General Makoto Kimura of the Local Organizing Committee for CECAR8. CECAR8 is expected
to have around 800 participants, a location where the association presidents of each country can meet and discuss
the development of engineering in Asia is being planned, and a joint statement is being scheduled.

Photograph 1: Preparation Progress Report Status of CECAR8 (Chairperson Kayano on the left and Secretary
General Kimura on the right)

4. Future ACECC Organizational Management
At this year’s Executive Committee Meeting, “Enabling admission of multiple academic societies from one
country to ACECC,” proposed by ACECC Chair Osamu Kusakabe, was approved. Additionally, “One country
has the right to one vote” was specified in the Constitution.
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The focus of discussion on what a “Membership Meeting” and “Executive Committee Meeting” should be has
been moved to the next Executive Committee Meeting. Smoother decision making can be expected in the
management of ACECC with the progress of this discussion.
5. In Conclusion
2019 will mark 20 years since the establishment of ACECC. Affiliated academic societies, of which there were
five when the council was established, have increased to thirteen, and the activities thereof are expected toadvance to the next stage. Going forward, we hope that Japanese engineers both inside and outside Japan gain
opportunities to show Japan’s presence within Asia through ACECC and CECAR.
The next Executive Committee Meeting is scheduled to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam in April of this year.
(Note: Photographs courtesy of ACECC Secretary General Horikoshi)(For details about this Executive Committee Meeting report and other related events, please read the Marchedition of JSCE Magazine Civil Engineering.)

Photograph 3: All Participants

Photograph 2: Status of the Executive Committee Meeting(G. Munkhbayer, Minister for Construction and Urban
Development, and ACECC Chairperson Kusakabe)【Alumni of DOBOKU Series】“Advancing Civil Engineering Expertise and Education throughResearch Collaboration and Networking in Japan”
Andres Winston C. Oreta
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, De La Salle University, Philippines
Studying in a Japanese University has many advantages for foreign students in thepractice and advancement of the civil engineering profession. During my graduate
studies at Nagoya University (NU) from 1989 to 1994 under my supervisor, Prof. Tadaaki Tanabe, I met prominent professors and researchers from Japan and other countries
in various occasions like conferences, lectures and seminars. I got exposed to newtechnology and advanced research in Japan when attending conferences and workshops
organized by Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) and Japan Concrete Institute (JCI).
Studying and collaborating with Japanese and foreign students had benefits since they Andres Winston C.
Oreta
Professor, De La Salle
University

become your colleagues in the profession in the future.
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After earning my Doctor of Engineering degree in 1994, I
returned to the Philippines to teach at the Civil Engineering
Department, De La Salle University (DLSU), Manila,
Philippines. Although teaching is my main task at theuniversity, research in civil engineering was also pursued.
And Japan has always been an important source of learning
the state of the art in civil and structural engineering.
Opportunities for Research Collaboration in Japan
There were many opportunities where I visited Japan toWith Prof. Nakamura and Prof. Tanabe of Nagoya

advance my knowledge and research capability. In 1999, the University
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) initiateda ten-year environmental engineering program between
Japan and the Philippines. Through this program, I served
as member of the steering committee and also did
collaborative research activities at Tokyo Institute ofTechnology (TIT). In 2001, I was a visiting researcher for
three months at TIT with host professor, Kazuhiko
Kawashima on the topic, “application of neural networks inthe modeling of the confined strength of concrete columns.”
A paper on this research was published in the American With Philippine Students Sho Graduated from TIT in 2006
Societyof

Civil

Engineers

Journalof

StructuralEngineering. In 2006, I developed a photo-video on “impact of natural disasters on infrastructures and theenvironment” during the one-month visit at TIT with host, Prof. Hideki Ohta. This project has evolved into a setof photo-videos entitled, “Understanding Earthquakes and Disasters” which can be accessed in the internet. The
JSPS program had given me and other Philippine researchers useful experiences and learnings on civilengineering which can be adopted to the local setting.
Networking with Researchers in JapanThe Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
supported also exchange of scientists between ASEAN
countries and Japan through the ASEAN University
Network/Southeast

Asia

Engineering

Education

Development Network (AUN/SEED-net) program. With
the friendship and network developed in Japan through theyears, identifying professors in Japan as host professors will
not be difficult. In 2015, I visited NU, under the
AUN/SEED-net Short Research in Japan Program (SRJP)
with Prof. Hikaru Nakamura who is now the head the Visit at Yahagi Construction Co. , Ltd. with Prof.
Concrete Laboratory. Prof. Nakamura was my co-student

Nakamura (Left)when he was pursuing his D.Eng. Degree at NU while I was a master’s student. My research was a “Survey ofEarthquake Risk Mitigation and Retrofitting Strategies for Concrete Structures for Local Adoption in the
4Philippines.” In this ten-day visit, I was introduced to new and advanced retrofit technology by Meiko
Construction Co., Ltd. and Yahagi Construction Co., Ltd. and visited the laboratory facilities at the NU Disaster
Mitigation Center, Shimizu Institute of Technology and Nagoya Institute of Technology.
In 2017, also under the AUN/SEED-Net SRJP, I visited
Kyushu University to pursue my study on “making cities
resilient to natural disasters: learning & adapting bestpractices from Japan” with host professor, Hemanta
Hazarika who was also a former co-student at Nagoya
University. In the short visit at Kyushu University I
observed the best practices in disaster risk reduction at
Asakura City since my stay there coincided with a typhoon
where land slide and mudflow damages occurred. The quick
response of the local government with many organizations Visit at Structural Engineering Lab, Kyushu University
including the Self-Defense Forces in the evacuation ofwith Prof. Hazarika (Right)

people and clearing of damaged roads and infrastructures was impressive.
In these SRJP research visits, I had the privilege to deliver lectures to the graduate students and faculty of NU
and Kyushu University. The SRJP research visits also gave me useful and up-to-date information on the bestpractices in Japan which I shared to Filipino civil engineers in national conferences organized by the Associationof Structural Engineers of the Philippines (ASEP) and the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE).
The advancement of my profession as a professor at De La Salle University and as a civil engineer in thePhilippines has been enhanced by the Japanese education and the opportunities for research collaboration andnetworking with Japanese researchers. I hope that this relationship with Japan will be sustained for the benefitof the new generation of researchers from the Philippines.
Profile: Prof. Dr. Andres Winston C. Oreta graduated from Nagoya University (D. Eng. 1994, M.Eng. 1991) under the supervisionof Prof. Tada-aki Tanabe (Concrete Laboratory). He is presently a professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, De La Salle
University, Manila, Philippines.

《Column》Hikaru Nakamura, Professor, Nagoya University
Prof. Dr. Andres Winston C. Oreta studied in master and doctoral courses of Nagoya
University under supervision of Dr. Tadaaki TANABE. After his graduation, he went backto his old school, De La Salle University in Manila, Philippines. Although he left Japan,
he has been a cross-linkage between Japanese-Philippine researchers in the field of
concrete and seismic engineering through JSCE or other societies. I remember that hekindly taught me breathing points and pronunciation as my senior in our laboratory when
I had my first presentation in an international conference. In that time,internationalization had just started in our department, but now, his or other alumni’s
students from overseas are studying in my laboratory as a next generation.
※Alumni of DOBOKU Series is in collaboration with Editorial Committee of JSCE Magazine.

5International Activities Related to Civil Engineering Informatics
Although we are somewhat flooded with terms such as CIM, AI, IoT, ICT, etc. now, mostcivil engineers tended to think that matters related to information technology were in aminor and special world until just several years ago in Japan. However, since 1980s in
the US and 1990s in Western Europe, this field has been deemed as an establishedacademic area and international conferences on this field have been organized there. On
the other hand, Japanese and other Asian researchers had to wait for 6 years for theInternational Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering (ICCCBE)
organized by the International Society for Computing in Civil and Building Engineering Nobuyoshi Yabuki
Committee on Civil(ISCCBE) in even number years in sequence of European, American, and Asian regions. Engineering
Incidentally, ICCCBE returned to Japan after a quarter of a century of separation and was Informatics(Osaka University)

held in Osaka in 2016.
As soon as the author became Chair of Committee on
Civil

Engineering

Informatics(CommitteeonInformation Utilization Technology, then) in 2011, we
decided to organize the International Conference on Civil
and Building Engineering Informatics (ICCBEI) in odd
number years and founded Asian Group for Civil
Engineering Informatics (AGCEI) which organizes

Group Photo of Participants at ICCCBE2016, Osaka

ICCBEI. ICCBEI 2013 and 2015 were held in Tokyo and
ICCBEI 2017 was held in Taipei. ICCBEI 2019 will beheld in Sendai. ICCBEI has been recognized as a sister
conference of ICCCBE and AGCEI has been a sisterorganization of ISCCBE.
On the other hand, 3D Product Model is necessary to
share

data

in

Building

Information

Modeling/

Construction Information Modeling (BIM/CIM). The
buildingSMART International (bSI) is in charge of Members of Board of Directors (BOD) of AGCEI anddevelopment and standardization of the product model

Keynote Speakers at ICCBEI 2015, Tokyoand it has 18 regional chapters. Japanese Chapter isbuildingSMART Japan (bSJ). For buildings, the 3D
Product Model called Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)
has become ISO 16739 since 2013. Infrastructure Room,which is in charge of developing and standardizing IFC
for infrastructures, was founded in the same year in bSI.
International conferences of bSI are held twice a year. In
October 2017, Japan Construction Information Center(JACIC) and bSJ founded the Committee on International
Infrastructures, acting as a joint secretariat, in which theJapanese government also has joined.
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International Summit Meeting for buildingSMART
International in London in October 2017

Report on Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE) 2017
Convention in Pasay, Manila, the Philippines
From November 28th to 30th of last year, I attended the PICE 43rd National
Convention at the request of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers, Inc., and wasgiven the opportunity to deliver a lecture, the outline of which I will report here.
At the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, an International Activities Center has been
established, a wide-ranging international cooperative system is being built, and an
agreement has been made with PICE to maintain a cooperative relationship oftechnician exchange, information sharing, etc. This visit was in response to a request

Toshihiro Asakura

to introduce Japanese tunnel technology in anticipation of the expansion of tunnel Tunnel Engineering
Committee

construction, such as the Davao Bypass Tunnel Project that is currently underway, and (Kyoto University)from Japan, “Tunnels in Japan -State-of-the-Art-” by the author, “Davao Bypass
Tunnel Project in Philippines” by Mr. Ishimoto of Nippon Koei Co., Ltd., and two other presentations were made.
Tunnel construction technology in the Philippines is in its embryonic stages at the moment, and everyone
attending the lecture did so with deep interest.
I had a number of surprises at the PICE National
Convention. The first was the size of the venue. A
basketball arena with five floors of audience seating
was used, and all of the lectures were held in this one
venue. There were an amazing 13,000 attendees. The
stage was set up in the center of the court, and thelectures were given from there to the audience at a full
360 degrees. Since I had the image in my mind of the
Lecture on the Stage at the Center of the Arena

JSCE Annual Meeting, which uses university lecturehalls, I was astounded and gave my lecture with considerable nervousness. There were loud cheers when I
concluded with “Japan’s tunnel engineers hold great hopes of contributing to the development of the Philippines.”
At the end of the lecture, I was surrounded by young participants wanting to have their photographs taken withme and felt a little like a star.
Additionally, there were continuous surprises such as a show by a popular young female singer at the end of thefirst day, a beauty contest between women representing each chapter at the end of the second day, a raffle with
luxurious prizes such as a television, and the election of the next chairperson while the convention was being
held.
Although I was hesitant when I accepted the request to give this lecture, it was an extremely valuable experienceand I am glad that I went. I am grateful to all of those involved, including the JSCE International Activities
Center, who looked after me so well.

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Report on Annual conference of Chinese Institute of Civil andHydraulic Engineering (CICHE) 2017 in Taipei, Taiwan
 Hiromi Shirahata (Professor of Tokyo City University)
The annual conference of Chinese Institute of Civil andHydraulic Engineering (CICHE) was held on December
1st and 2nd. CICHE is a Taiwanese society of civilengineers, and the conference venue was in Taipei. During
those two days of conference, there was held aninternational forum on the 1st. On the second day,awarding ceremony for the best paper, the best young
researcher, technical development, etc., and technicalcommittees’ symposia were held. The main topic of thisyear was sustainability of civil engineering in practice andOpening Remarks by President Leu Lian-Jenq

professional development.

Some people from Japanese Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) participated in the international forum. In themorning of December 1st, four keynote speakers gave lectures. The topics of the lectures covered education ofyoung students, communication between civil engineering society and the public, resilient water resources,development of green infrastructure, and sustainable growth of infrastructure. In the afternoon, there were someparallel sessions focusing on environment, maintenance, and, big construction project.
A special session for young engineers was offered relating to practice and professional development.
In the banquet of 1st day, the former president Leu Liang-Jenq and the current president Wang Jaw-Lieh of
CICHE and JSCE promised to keep communication and technical exchange in the future.


Daniel Shigueo Morikawa, Kohei Hara (Students at Kyushu University)

On December 1st, we participated in the 2017 CICHE
International Forum in Taiwan. At first, our expectations werethat we would only participate in a good convention abroad.
However, those expectations were completely surpassed. In
addition to the traditional good presentations of such conventions,
we could also truly enjoy making network with other young
engineers and the Taiwanese culture.
The theme of the convention was Sustainability on the Civil
Engineering area. Realizing that sustainable growth means much Kohei Hara (Left) and Daniel Shigueo Morikawa
more than simply technical improvements to protect the(Right)environment, we watched presentations about topics as diverse as education, international collaboration, public
relations, and technical advances. Many aspects such as the development of the future civil engineers, the interestof the general public towards civil engineering, the importance of language and mutual collaboration and others
were discussed in order to give insights on how the pathway of Civil Engineering will run in the next few years.
8In addition to the excellent presentations, it was also a big opportunity to amplify our network through theconvention. In special, we could meet people from many
countries including young Taiwanese engineers during theYoung Engineer Scrambling. Funny games and otherdynamics made this interaction even easier and morenatural. This interaction was very enjoyable not only
during the convention, but also afterwards, since we had
the chance to visit many places in Taiwan with theserecently met peers.
Back in Japan, we feel grateful for having the opportunity
At Young Engineers’ Session

to participate in this convention.

Report on YTU-MES-JSCE Joint Seminar on Civil Engineering
The Joint Seminar as the title of this report was held over two days on 28 (Sat.) and 29(Sun.) October at Yangon Technological University, Myanmar, which follows the Joint
Seminar on Civil Engineering co-organized by YTU-MES (Myanmar Engineering
Society) in May, 2015 and by MES-JSCE in March, 2016. This Seminar is to share
current practical issues in civil-infrastructure development, ongoing theoretical explore,
advanced technology and the research in Civil Engineering Department in YTU. These
objectives are expected to lead to: encourage young staffs and graduate students in research,
 find new research seeds, and discuss the feasibility of furnishing advanced technology to human society.

Hiromichi Shirato
Former Chair,
Structural Engineering
Committee(Kyoto University)

The seminar started with the performance by Ensemble Civil, JSCE which covered the main hall in YTU with
noble and particularly impressive atmosphere among daily events. Structural Engineering Committee, JSCE
extends her special thanks to each member of Ensemble Civil who paid great efforts to make this event
outstanding. The program consists of 10 keynote speech
given by the delegates not only from YTU, MES, JSCE,
Ministry of Construction in Myanmar (MOC), engineers
and university professors from Japan in plenary sessions,and 69 presentation mainly by young faculty members andgraduate students in YTU in technical sessions. Prize wasgiven to the best presenter in each technical session inorder to encourage further research who did good
researches, a presentation and proper responses to
Welcome Speech by Prof. Myint Thein, YTU Rector

questions.

9A meeting was held in the evening on the first day to discuss
to promote the Seminar being held regularly and more
fruitfully. The participants were Rector and Department
Head of YTU, Chief Engineers in MOC, Chief Advisor of
Enhancement of Engineering Higher Education in Japan
International

Cooperation

Agency(EEHE,

JICA),

International Activities Center (IAC) of JSCE. Many ofthem approved of the purposes of the seminar and agreed
upon the seminar to be held regularly. They also exchanged

Musical Performance by Ensemble Civil, JSCE

ideas and opinions about the seminar to be held incooperation with YTU and other universities in engineering hereafter, about registration fees and financial
supports, while raised the issue in what way the papers should be published in relation to the characteristics ofseminar. Planning to hold a post-seminar meeting in cooperation with people in academic, public and private
sectors by the end of the 2017 fiscal year, I currently am making inquiries to those people about their availability
in March 2018.
At the seminar, the speakers who were YTU graduate students were given many questions and comments fromthe researchers and engineers in the public and private sectors as well as from Japanese engineers. Such that
opportunity those students should not have often, nor do even their academic advisors; accordingly, the seminarmust be an academically interesting and stimulating experience for them. I was convinced hearing theircomments that it would be significant and meaningful for participants from academia, public and private sectors
to sit together and exchange their views and opinions with each other on a regular basis, and anticipated, throughthe seminar, we would support and contribute for them to establishing a civil engineering society in Myanmar.
Lastly I like to express my thanks to Dr. Tamon Ueda, Senior Director of IAC, Dr. Thi Ha of IAC Myanmar
Group and others, and to International Scientific Exchange Fund (ISEF) Committee which provided financial
assistance to the Structural Engineering Committee for holding the joint seminar; the Structural Engineering
Committee applied for the FY2017 ISEF programs under the category bi- and multi-lateral communication andtechnical exchange. The seminar held successfully with the support of those people and the fund.

Technical Session at the Joint Seminar

Guests, Keynote Speakers, and Organizers at the Seminar

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Updates◆Summary of feature articles in JSCE Magazine Vol. 103, No. 2, February 2018 is available on the JSCE

website.
http://www.jsce-int.org/pub/magazine◆Journal of JSCE

The Journal of JSCE is the collection of research papers which can be viewed on the JSCE website.
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/journalofjsce◆CECAR8 Call for Abstract: August 1, 2017 – February 28, 2018
http://www.cecar8.jp/◆Concrete Committee International Newsletter No. 52
http://www.jsce.or.jp/committee/concrete/e/newsletter/newsletter52/◆Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council (ACECC) International Newsletter archives
http://www.acecc-world.org/newsletter.html◆ IAC Students and Alumni Network
http://www.jsce-int.org/IAC_network§ IAC News Subscription §The IAC News is one of the communication tools to share information and ideas with the members. We would like to invite
you, your friends and colleagues to join the communication and to subscribe the IAC News. Please register online:(http://www.jsce-int.org/node/150). We look forward to meeting you.
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