[the writings here  reflect my own view. They should not be in any way associated with my Institution]

2016 Olympic Games
Why so much money has to be wasted in the campaign (as bribing fee) to host the games? Tokyo spent about US$170 millions just for the campaign. The fund can be used for other better prupose. The huge campaigning fund made it impossible for the poorer countries to host any Olympic Games.

The hosting by Rio de Janeiro is perhaps the best choice. US and Japan were both unfocused about the selection of cities. Japan has been beaten with three of its past nominations (Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo). Focus on one city so that the members will understand it better. US has been throwing out New York last time and this time Chicagoas the host cities - unfocused as well. In addition, The 2008 Summer Games had been just held in Beijing, following Seoul, and another Asian city would not be wise. In US, we have had Los Angeles and Atlanta that hosted the games in the past two decades. The next 2012 Games will be in Europe (UK), and Madrid would definitely be a bad chocie (and since Barcelona had hosted the Games not too long ago). For sure, we know that just making good speeches would not work well in the rest of the world.

Olympic Games is probably about the intercontinental politics. I think if there will be no African nations coming to be one of the finalists, US or Japan will very likely be the host for the 2020 Olympics. Besides Japan, Korea and China, who else in Asia can be the candidates? The Asian countries may have to team up, if they will ever be interested in hosting the Summer Games. Are there any better ideas, such as a developed country from one continent will host it jointly (assist financially) with a less developed country in another continent?
10/4/09

August 5 & 9
I knew of Japan during my childhood because of history. We learned about the Japanese invasion during the Second World War. We also learned in the textbook that Japan surrendered because of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When I was eventually exposed to the media in Japan, I started to learn of the history from a different angle. I learned that the media mentioned about the victims of nuclear bombings when it came close to August 5 & 9, the days of atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the beginning, I thought that Japan should be apologetic to the world because of the war it created in the Pacific, but why is Japan then portraying an image of being a victim of the war? It was a shock.

However, I gradually became aware that many Japanese people also suffered during the war. The Allies, primarily the US, had dropped bombs all over Japan that destroyed many houses and killed many civilians. The Ministry of Education censored the textbooks about Japanfs role in the Second World War, especially the invasion of Manchuria and Nanking Massacre. This started the first wave of protests against Japan by China, Korea and other South-East Asian nations.  Subsequently, I learned that the people in Okinawa were very much against the government because it had been a fierce battle field between US and Japan that killed many civilians; many of those were forced to commit suicides by the Japanese force. More than 25 years ago, most of the Japanese people whom I met had their family members killed in the war. In fact, the bombing in Nagasaki killed many Catholics, estimated to be 8500, and destroyed the well known Urakami Cathedral, and also killed many people of various nationalities.

I learned more about the war when the Gulf War broke out in 1990. Every morning, I was greeted by the news about the Scud missiles that hit Israel. We saw how the media reported and condemned the bombings that killed or injured the civilians, especially women and children, as well as the use of the increasingly destructive bombs. In modern days, the military can no longer target civilians during the wars and are required to treat the captives in a humane fashion. Many countries may not be following the Geneva Convention, but the US and other advanced countries are supposed to observe human right(?).

The reasons Japan started the war were always explained as a way to obtain more energy resources and to imitate how the west expanded the territories by colonizing most part of Asia, Africa, etc. In Japan, the reason was also explained as a way to drive away the conquests in the Asian land. Indeed, most Asian countries gained independence following the end of the Second World War for one reason or another, such as the weakening economy that could be used to reconstructing the destroyed war zones. Nevertheless, history is always subjected to different interpretations.

I have had a chance to meet the Enola Gay at the Smithsonian Museum in 1998 and visited the Pearl Harbor in 2009. I also visited the Museums of Atomic Bombing in Nagasaki in 1983 and in Hiroshima in 2005. Each visit taught me something. I really feel that we need to look at the war history from two different opposite perspectives. It is best to avoid any wars, which will prevent loss of human lives.

The Passing Away of Corazon Aquino (8/4/09)
Do not underestimate the potential of politiciansf wives. Corazon Aquino proved that a housewife could become one of the most honest politicians, doing her jobs to the best of her abilities. So much live coverage was given in the Japanese media to the rise of People Power and the fall of Marcos that allowed me to know better about the 1986 grevolution.h The Mother of Democracy gave hope to not just the Philippines, but also to some of the Asian countries that were once in the hands of dictators – corrupt leaders who withheld democracy and freedom. A wave of democracy swept through Asia affecting countries such as South Korea (first democratically elected president in 1988), Taiwan (first democratically elected president in 1996), and Indonesia (Suhartofs 32-year rule ended in 1998). But, there are still some Asian countries where people do not have the luxury of enjoying democracy and freedom.

If I may list another woman who has been put under the same light as Corazon Aquino, she is Wan Azizah, the wife of Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia. When Anwar suddenly lost his job as deputy prime minister in 1998, and was subsequently jailed in 1999 for such a funny crime, his dentist wife stood up to form and lead an opposition party. She stood in the constituency of Anwar, until he was released from jail and back to his political career as opposition leader in 2008. Azizahfs husband is still alive, but in contrast, Corazonfs husband has been gunned down.

The families of Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada paid their last respect to Corazon Aquino. Reconciliation was possible in the Philippines, but has yet to be part of the culture of other Asian countries, such as Taiwan. Perhaps the religious convictions allowed the Filipinos to give their honest opinion.

A Physcis Textbook (10/8/08)
I liked physics and mathematics during high school simply because I didn't have to memorize some of the terminologies such as those of biology and organic chemistry. We did have the pure and applied mathematics in which applied mathematics was primarily on kinematics, dealing with the motion of a particle. I could solve almost any problem on kinematics. The playing around with the equations of motion made me love mechanics. I told my high school teacher that I would go for mechanical engineering because I thought it was the discipline dealing with mechanics. Before I got into the university, a friend who was in structural engineering told me that mechanics should be in civil engineering. His word almost decided the field that I selected, and rest of my career. I must admit that my impression after a few lectures on soil mechanics was that it is more like an empirical subject; where was the mechanics? 

Although I have taken advanced level mathematics and physics, I was quite troubled by the first physics course that I took at Kyoto University during my freshman year. There was the equation of motion of a particle and projectile, for example, but the equation included the air resistance and different kinds of fluid viscosities. We also learned about vibrations with damping. I still remembered that the Physics professor spoke with quite a strong Kansai accent, and he demonstrated the underdamping and overdamping using the door of the old lecture room that had a damper installed on it. Because of this, now I always tell my class it was not my first time to see vibration in soil dynamics or geotechnical earthquake engineering. My second course on vibration was in structural dynamics during my senior year. I also tell the class about the damper on the door. 

I quite loved my Physics textbook and kept it for many years although I have moved a few times within Kyoto, to near Osaka, and then to Tokyo. However, I finally abandoned this book when the boxes had to sail across the Pacific. Some years back, I got in touch with the physics professor who co-authored this book, a professor whom I know well and helped me quite a lot when I still had to deal with subjects of general studies [at that time, I asked Prof. Tomita why I needed to study Physics when my major was civil engineering. I now have my own answer!]. Prof. Tomita made a copy for me of the several pages on the motion of a particle in viscous fluids. Last month, I found on the Internet that this book is still in print, so I ordered a copy by having it sent to my friend at Kobe. Prof. Kawabata kindly sent me this book, my second copy of the "Path to Mechanics".   



Indian Curry (10/6/08)
I was a spoiled kid because my mom used to mix rice with hot sweet chocolate for me when I was small. Such a menu was never available elsewhere. Rice simply tasted bad because it is tasteless. When my elder brother and I went for a sleepover at my aunt's and grandpa's houses, we did not find the rice prepared to be as sweet. We thought we were ill-treated, but later we started to realize that no one else around were as spoiled as us. This is just to illustrate that I didn't eat spicy hot foods when I was small. 
 
I did eat curry rice, but the degree of spiciness of the Japanese curry rice was almost 0. It was just a kind of curry flavor. I started to get exposed to Indian curry, the real curry, at the introduction of one of my best friends, Siddiquee san. He was from Bangladesh and he enjoyed spicy food a lot. One day, he asked me if I want to try the Indian curry near our Institute. He suggested that we could go after his return from the Friday prayer at the mosque. The restaurant was not too far from the former Institute of Industrial Science at Ropponggi, one of the most expensive and fancy places in Tokyo. Yet the price was very reasonable, less than 1000 yen or US$10 per lunch menu. I later got addicted to this chicken curry with Nan, and went there almost every weekend. A few of our friends joined us. When I first tasted this Indian curry, I could feel the blood crawling under the skin of my skull. But now I improved myself such that I need to ask for a more spicy one. 

This restaurant at Ropponggi offers the best Indian food that I have ever tried. The restaurant is still there, so you can imagine that I still visit the place whenever I go to Tokyo. It is surprising that the price is still the same for lunch menu after 20 years, although the owners seemed to have changed a few times. I have tried Indian food at many cities around the world, yet I haven't found another one that tastes as good. My second best one was in Heidelberg, Germany, and the third one was near Elkton Road, Newark, Delaware. I haven't found one in New York city that is as good.  
 
If you cook good Indian food, please invite me!


The Democratic primamries are over. But what did I learn from the primaries this time?
In the third world countries, the media are controlled by the dictators and used effectively as propaganda tools.
In the advanced countries (perhaps limited to US?), the media have a great influence on the election outcome. In other words, the politics may be controlled by the main media (the reverse of third world situation). For instance, toward the end of primaries, the media had already decided that Hilary Clinton is the loser, and naturally this affected the voters as many people just like to follow the majority (be part of the fashion).

I started to wonder if democratic system is the best. Why? Democracy is too high a price to pay. Look at the amount of money the candidates are spending. Those millions of dollars can be spent in a better way. More than that, because of election, the agenda of some politicians is simply to make sure that they will be re-elected, thus planning things toward their own interest. In the so called undemocratic countries, the dictators may not have to worry about themselves too much, thus they are able to consider long-term plan for the countries.
7/10/08



Many crane accidents in New York city? Yes, there are many tall building constructions.

Earthquake in Sichuan
 [We appreciated Earthquake Engineering for saving so many lives (if not, the number of casualties could have been even larger). 5/15/08]

The town looked as if it has been raided by the bombs.
[I forgot exactly where I got this photo. It could be from www.backchina.com]
What do I feel about the earthquake in China?
  • The worst earthquakes, such as Kobe earthquake, are always unexpected. There is no single place that may be free from natural disasters.
  • Earthquake Engineering has not been implemented to a large extent in China. How many more unsafe buildings are there in rural China? Will there be ways to rehabilitate so many of them?
    • The schools that are supposed to be the safest place became the killing ground for the children. This is unacceptable. It is also true for the hospitals. More sentences would be expected in China in punishing the builders and taking them to justice, if constructions were not done according to specifications.
  • New means of predicting earthquake should be looked into. I found the reported "earthquake clouds" and abnormal behavior of some animals very interesting. Are there magnetic or acoustic waves prior to earthquake motion? This is like a shearing test where acoustic wave may be detected before we see the shear bands/rupture.
  • Will the earthquake data be released? I am sure some of the most important facilities in the areas are monitored for seismic activities.
  • The government, through the media, is politicizing the rescue effort about the greatness of the race, army and political party. I felt sorry for the people.
[5/17/2008]

Japan and France are constantly competing with each other to gain world's #1 status. Here are a few items:
(a) Structural Engineering: Eiffel Tower versus Tokyo Tower (5/4/08)
 Year of completion: 1889, 1958
 Height: 325, 333 (why just by 8 m?)
 Weight: 7300 tons, 4000 tons
 In this case, it is difficult to decide who is the winner.

photos: wikipedia

(b) Railway (from Wikipedia)
The French TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) is the fastest conventional train in the world, using powered metal wheels riding on metal rails. In April 2007, the TGV broke its own 1990 record with a new speed of 574.8 km/h (357.18 mph) under test conditions with a shortened train (two power cars and three passenger cars).


The Japanese JR-Maglev is the fastest non-conventional train in the world, having achieved 581 km/h (361 mph) on a magnetic-levitation track.
[not the bullet train or Shinkansen]

(c) Statue of Liberty
The real one (from France) and the Repilica in Tokyo
 (d) Centrifuge
France has been the sole manufacturer for the geotechnical centrifuge. Many companies and research institutes around the world are using the French actidyn centrifuges. However, actidyn has only two out of about 20 centrifuges in Japan (the other one was donanted to Columbia University!). The big geocentrifuges in Japan are manufactured by the Japanese manufacturers, such as Hitachi (although they are more expensive than actidyn, they still have a more favorable domestic market).

(e) Afterall, France is the winner because there are more than 12 Louis Vuitton stores in Tokyo alone (of course more than the total number of actidyn centrifuges in Japan), and many more throughout Japan. The Japanese tourists spend more money in the LV stores in France....

LV store (Ginza, Tokyo)
check the address for source of photo. I have my own photos, but I am too lazy to dig them out
[5/7/08]

 

The crane from the new Science Building may steal away our statue!


I am here for nearly 10 years, but I was not aware of such a secret Civil Engineering Lab! (4/24/08)
Has our society gradually changed into a communist system? I am afraid we are although many of us are unaware of the fact. I feel that here is a place where one is not given a truly democratic educational environment that allows free competition, from elementary school to the university. For instance, in the Japanese national universities, entrance test results are the criteria for admission. There is no such consideration like the geographical distribution, etc. Thus, many students from the best high school would be admitted to the best universities as soon as you are very good. In the US, I am afraid the opportunities for some of the brightest kids are not really provided by the University and only a limited number of students are admitted from each of the best high schools.

I still remember my first friend from the Soviet Union whom I met in Tokyo in 1990. It was the time the "secret police" would visit you followed by any visitors from the Soviet Union. It was the time when the TV would often show breaking news about the Soviet fighter jets that had invaded Japanese territory. When we had our lunch together with this friend, he told our advisor that Japan is a more communist country compared to Russia. We were all surprised. Japan is a democratic country and we wondered how he could be so ignorant. He explained to us that in Japan the income of everyone in a company is more or less the same, no matter what kind of positions one takes. In other words, the difference in salary is small. I later realized that his words made sense and I never forgot about this lesson. Not long after his visit, the Berlin Wall collapsed and the communist Soviet Union disintegrated.
Perhaps the "communist" educational system has produced several best universities in the US, compared to the system where one can differentiate the #1 and #2 universities very clearly. [4/3/08]


where do you find this sign board?

We finally have some one who cares about the infrastructures? Bloomberg is the Mayor for New York city, and Columbia University is one of the major US institutions behind his backyard. We may like to find out how much is he investing in the infrastructure research at Columbia University, as a sign to support his words. Caltrans, on the other hand, probably spends more that the budget of the National Science Foundation in civil engineering research. Politicians in all countries are  looking for short-term gain, and I wonder how many of them are really looking at the long-term interest of the people, rather than just getting elected and reelected (i.e., short-term interest). (1/20/2008)

Jan 20, 12:56 AM (ET) By MICHAEL R. BLOOD

LOS ANGELES (AP) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who says he's not a candidate for president, chose electoral vote-rich California for a scorching attack Saturday on Washington.

Without singling out either party for blame, he said Washington has failed to keep up with the need for new airports, roads, water systems and bridges across America.

While China and other nations are investing heavily in ports and high-speed trains "Washington doesn't have a plan" to address crumbling U.S. infrastructure, Bloomberg said.

......
What's new for the spring? Tunnel Design and Construction and LRFD Short Course
see the spring geotech courses

more information1 2 about this tunnel 

 view of a tunnel from another tunnel
(between Kobe and Hiroshima. Thanks Prof. Kawabata for the ride)
(ownership of photos-HL, but not the tunnels)
Are you aware that women are not allowed into the tunnels in Japan? This is an old superstition/discrimination in a modern society. Based on past experiences, the construction workers believed that an accident would happen if women were allowed into the tunnels. The Goddess of  the mountain (the Japanese way of saying: the God of the mountain is female) would be furious out of jealousy, thus punishing the male workers.
Such discrimination was also found in the sumo ring (dohyo). In 1990, the Cabinet Secretary who was a woman, wanted to break this rule by giving away the tournament cup on the ring herself, but she failed. An attempt made by a female governor 10 years later also ended without success1.
[12/20/2007]

I  first saw the group picture for the First International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (held at Harvard in 1936) in Tatsuoka Lab in 1988. But I have been wondering where was it taken. During my sabbatical at Harvard last year, it was one of the first things I tried to find out. Apparently the group picture was taken in front of the Pierce Hall at the 29 Oxford Street. I also tried to find out the location of the Soil Mecahnics Laboratory once owned by Terzaghi or Casagrande,.... with reference to layout shown in a paper of the 1936 Proceedings, but I could not find it because the building has been rennovated.

Geomechanics is now taught at Harvard, but civil engineering is not listed as one of the major disciplines in the Division (now the School) of Engineering and Applied Sciences. However, I did find many of the civil engineering books in the library of the Graduate School of Design (and that is the place where a few of our undergraduate students went to in recent years).
[11/22/2007]


This is portion of the group photo of the 1st IC on SM&FE




When I was still interested in watching baseball ....(learned about it and loved it)

The Yankees did not succeed this year, and neither did the Mets.

I got addicted to baseball during my first year of college. I remembered the names of all the major players and their records because I watched the games and sports news in TV every day. Even after coming to the US in 1994, I went to the library at the University of Delaware to go over the results in the Japanese newspapers that usually arrived a week late. We can imagine how the Internet era changed the transmission of information, from a week delay to real time in a period of a few years.

Most of the players whom I liked are retired by now and they are assuming management roles in the baseball leagues. I was a great fan of the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, but many of my friends were Hanshin Tigersf fans. It is not uncommon for some non-Tiger fans to hide their preference in the Kansai area. The poor performance of the Tigers did hurt me and some of my classmates during our junior year. Our professor for the Structural Analysis was a big Tigersf fan and he told us in the beginning of the semester that if the Tigers lost the game the night before the class, he would give us a quiz.  However, during our senior year when I did not have a structural analysis class any more, the Tigers won the championship after twenty years, and it was a big fever in the Kansai area. Of course, I felt happy for my friends.

Some friends asked me why I no longer follow the baseball here in the US. I still recognize names for some Japanese players, such as Nomo, Matsui, Ichiro, etc. However, it is difficult for me to get into the world of major leagues unless I really spent time in learning about all the players.

Many Japanese high school kids have their dream in going to Koshien, where the annual high school baseball games meet.  I always felt sorry for these kids because they have only one single chance that is different from the professional players. Because of that, they are always more serious than the adults. Unfortunately, some of them ended their summer following the defeat in the selection games even before the real game at Koshien started. I remembered the story about the two superstars, Kiyohara and Kuwata, how their lives were manipulated by irresponsible adults. Kuwata retired from Yomiuri Giants and came to the US in early 2007, but he did not really perform well at this age (as expected).

Japanese baseball was sustained to a certain extent by the 3A players from US. In each baseball team, there are a few gforeignh players and the number is restricted. I liked Cromati and also remembered that Bass was a big home run hitter. On the other hand, the Japanese players did not have a chance to come to play in the major leagues until they reformed the system in Japan more than several years ago (when Nomo and others started to come).  It is interesting to find out that it is not just the pitchers (who are considered more skillful instead of powerful), but also the batters who played reasonably well in the major leagues.

[10/28/2007, the day when the Red Sox won the World Championship.
I still remembered the red line subway in Boston that was full of Red Sox fans. Living in Boston for six months was kind of too short for me to get addicted to baseball again]
Bolts, nuts, washers - Everyone has probably owned a bike as a child and experimented with taking it apart or fixing it, myself included. Occasionally I was left with one or two extra screws or bolts/nuts. During my childhood, I saw my dad opening up the car's hood quite often as he tried to keep it in perfect condition. I must say that I learned about the correct use of washers and nuts by watching the way my dad fixed his car. Besides my own bike, I only started having close contact with bolts, nuts and washers after I  started having a triaxial cell for conducting soil experimental works. I am proud to say that I never damaged the triaxial cell and its expensive transducers throughout my life as a graduate student. However, in my lab, I do see many nuts and bolts around and the tools are not probably placed. With time, I have lost these precious items. Sometimes I see that students did not put on the washers as they were supposed to be. I feel very uneasy to notice that students failed to treat the testing equipment like their own babies. I don't want to see the life span of the device being jeopardized because of the missing parts, screws or nuts.
The other day, I saw a recorded video about the explosion of a rather new Taiwanese Boeing 737 jet  in Okinawa  (Photos 1, 2; www.asahi.com). It seems the source of the problem was due to improper installation of the washers with the bolts and nuts. Luckily no life was lost. Such negligence may happen in the aviation industry, and thus perhaps in a soil lab? I think a lot of good habits are not acquired directly in the classroom or lab, but rather by experience. In my case, it was from my dad. One of my colleagues (without naming him) is extremely talented in his craftmanship and he can do very dedicated work at home (from the interior of his house to the backyard). I attribute this to the culture and tradition of his motherland in that he was exposed to this kind of training since childhood.  [9/3/2007]

Steam pipe? We know that we have to avoid living in any housing developments where main gas pipelines are passing through, but I am afraid many people are unaware of the fact that potentially dangerous steam pipes are buried underground in New York City. The media are talking about aging infrastructures. Civil engineers or researchers in civil engineering have been aware of this kind of problems for a long time, but we simply have not been able to draw enough attention from the public and policy makers. They started to open up their eyes only when a disaster happened, and this would of course be too late. The Katrina event is another typical example of such negligence by the policy makers and funding agencies. Tell me, how much research funding is there for studying this kind of problems? They would simply reject your research proposal because of a lack of funding, even after the problem has been recognized.

Civil engineering is a discipline focusing on how to design and build, as is seen all over the developing countries where construction is booming. But for us, where many infrastructures are getting old, we need to consider maintenance and how to deal with the replacement and repair. We care so much about the cost and we no longer build structures that last forever, unlike what the ancient Romans did. We will eventually arrive at a day when the Empire State Building, Taipei 101, Petronas Towers, George Washington Bridge,.., will have to be torn down because of aging and because they start to pose a risk to us. 

Another good example where cost bothers us is the housing. Most houses in the US are built (no, I should use the term fabricated) in a quick and cheap way, mainly using wood. They would not last forever like the houses in many old European cities. Many friends from Europe asked me why we could not build strong houses using bricks so that they will not be blown away during hurricanes or tornados. I think we know how to build stronger structures, but cost is such a prime factor of concern and we would rather deal with the spending after a disaster than mitigating or preventing it (much like the principle of health care in the US).

7/18/2007