2024

Young Engineers Coordinator, Japan: For information related to YEP, please contact Yukari Aoki. Write to us.

Steering Committee National Groups Meeting

The Japanese Group of IABSE, Chaired by Yozo Fujino, held a steering committee meeting on 11 March 2025.  Discussions were centred around the IABSE Symposium Tokyo 2025 and the YEC East Asia and Germany which will be held from 18-21 May 2025. Tomonori Nagayama, the secretary of the symposium, informed that the preparation of the symposium is going very well with more than 400 full-papers accepted, 27 special sessions organised, and the post-symposium Technical Tours which will be held in Tokyo and Hyogo, already have 26 sponsors.

Shunichi Nakamura, Chair of YEC, informed that the YEC events consist of the technical presentation session and the bridge design competition. In addition, the mentoring session and networking with senior members will also be organised. The Steering Committee also discussed how to encourage member companies to apply for the IABSE Awards and how to increase membership. 

Attendants: (From top to bottom, left to right): Tomonori Nagayama, Toru Takeuchi, Manabu Inoue, Ikuhide Sibata, Yozo Fujino, Shunichi Nakamura, Akira Wada, Mitsuyoshi Akiyama, Yoshiaki Kubota

IABSE Tokyo Symposium 2025 Organising Committee meeting updates

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The OC of the IABSE Symposium Tokyo 2025 had a meeting on 29 March 2024 in Waseda University, the venue of the symposium, with the onsite participants of 31 and the online participants of 12. The OC discussed the schedule, organization, budget, program, special sessions, keynotes speakers, commercial exhibitions, Young Engineers Colloquium East Asia and Germany as the pre-symposium event, technical visits in and around Tokyo, and the post-symposium technical tour to Kansai Area (Osaka, Kyoto, Nara), and so on. The members checked the main hall and the session rooms at the university and then visited the Rihga Royal Hotel, the venue for the banquet and the reception. The preparation is going well as planned. Please submit the abstract before July 31 2024, the OC and SC looks forward to welcome all to Tokyo in May 2025.

Steering Committee Meeting 

The Japanese Group of IABSE had a steering committee meeting on March 14, 2024 in Tokyo. The attendants (on photo from right to left): S. Nakamura, Y. Fujino, K. Takanashi, A. Wada, Y. Ichinohe, M. Inoue and A. Sato. Online attendants (from right to left top): Y. Okui, A. Kasuga, T. Takeuchi, T. Nagayama, M. Akiyama and I. Shibata.

The steering committee reviewed the activities and memberships in 2023. Many Japanese members participated in the committees and IABSE Task Groups. It was reported that many were unable to participate in the IABSE Congress New Delhi 2023 and the IABSE Sympsosium Istanbul 2023, that took place last year. The Japanese National Group contributed to the successful completion of the 3rd YEC East Asia, held in Seoul in 2024. The Japanese National Group is now busy preparing for the IABSE Symposium that will take place in Tokyo, in 2025. YEC East Asia 2025 in collaboration with Germany, is also being planned to take place, one day prior to the IABSE Symposium Tokyo 2025. SEI February 2025 issue will have a special feature on recent structures and research from Japan.

Young Engineers Colloquium in East Asia

19-24 January 2024

South Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong

Young engineers in any country can make presentations and participate in the design competition. Young engineers and senior engineers are welcome to participate. Apply by 3 November 2023 via each National Group of IABSE and register online before 22 December 2023. Contact: +82 2 871 8395 Fax: +82 2 885 1081. Email: iabseYEC2024seoul@kibse.or.kr. or further information click here ...

2023

  

Japanese Group Annual Meeting 2 March 2023

The Japanese Group of IABSE had the annual steering committee meeting on 2 March, which started with a silent prayer for Prof. Manabu Ito, the former president of IABSE, who passed away on 12 February. The group reviewed the NG activities in 2022 and then discussed how to make the NG more active such as: Young Engineers Colloquium (with China, Korea, Hong Kong and Germany), the support program for young engineers to participate in the IABSE conferences, nomination of the IABSE Awards, in particular, preparation of the IABSE Symposium Tokyo 2025.

Onsite Participants: Yozo Fujino (Chair), Akira Wada (Vice Chair), Koichi Takanashi, Manabu Inoue, Jun Sato, Shunichi Nakamura (Vice President).

Online Participants: Mitsuyoshi Akiyama, Yoshiaki Okui, Akio Kasuga, Yoshiaki Kubota, Toru Takeuchi, Tomonori Nagayama, Takashi Yamaguchi

2020 Activities

The IABSE award celebration for the Mukogawa Bridge, the finalist for Outstanding Structure Award, was held on February 3, 2020 in Japan. The Mukogawa Bridge is the first recipient of this award as road bridge in Japan. A total of 60 persons attended the celebration including Prof. Manabu Ito (Former president of IABSE), Prof. Yozo Fujino (Honorary Member of IABSE), Prof. Shunichi Nakamura (Vice-president of IABSE), Mr. Toyohito Ikeda (Director-General, Road Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), West Nippon Expressway Company Ltd (owner), Sumitomo Mitsui Construction (designer and contractor) and bridge engineers and experts. This bridge is the first structure in the world combining the butterfly web and the extradosed bridge. This led to a significant reduction in the total weight of the superstructure and increased seismic resistance. Due to the recent shortage of skilled workers in Japan, precast concrete technology was employed for labour saving construction to raise productivity. Prefabricated precast members were applied for the pier head and the external surfaces of the piers. These unique solutions were presented at the celebration. It is declared that we should make efforts to further develop new technologies in Japan and to release them to the world.