Japan's Construction Research Articles

Dynamic analysis of carbon emissions from construction and demolition activities in Japan: Revealed by high-resolution 4D-GIS modeling

To meet the 2050 decarbonization target of the global buildings and construction sector, more attention is needed to reduce carbon emissions from construction and demolition. However, current national carbon accounting studies for these activities remain limited in spatial granularity and localized applicability. This study developed a bottom-up spatiotemporal database of carbon emissions from building construction and demolition in Japan via integrating a geographic information system-based building stock model, statistical data, and survey information. Focusing on municipal-level emissions, the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index approach was used to decompose spatiotemporal variations and identify the contributing factors. Results indicate that carbon emissions from Japan's construction and demolition activities fell by more than 50% between 2005 and 2020, largely due to declining new/demolished-to-stock ratio, suggesting a transition to a stock-based society. Central cities' reliance on carbon-intensive buildings positively contributed to spatial variations in their construction emissions, underscoring the importance of sustainable materials and timber designs. Differences between prefectures in demolition emission intensity highlighted the strategic placement of recycling facilities in key regions to curb transportation-related emissions. Overall, these findings provided data reference for local governments to devise tailored policies for managing construction and demolition emissions.

The Impact of Global Financial Crisis on Japan's Construction Industry

We investigate the role of financial ratios in Japan’s construction firms in explaining the propagation of financial shocks during the 2007 to 14 financial crisis. For our analysis, we applied the new approach of contagion test developed by Fry-McKibbin et al (2016) to test for contagion effect from the US stock market to 47 Japan’s construction firms. To investigate how the crisis spreads, the crisis severity index is constructed to measure how vulnerable the Japan’s construction industry are to financial crisis. The empirical result shows all 47 Japan’s individual construction firms were affected by financial crisis. More specifically, about 23% of the construction market was significantly affected. At the firm level, construction firms with poor profitability, turnover, leverage ratios prior to the crisis were more strongly affected by the crisis. This research contributes to the Japan’s construction firm performance literature by demonstrating the contingent effect of external economic conditions.

BASF sets out path to enhance leading position in Japan's construction chemicals industry

BASF sets out path to enhance leading position in Japan's construction chemicals industry

Still-City Crisis: Fujisawa Eco-city, Energy, and the Urban Architecture of Crisis

For some time now, Japan has been teetering on the point of fundamental, historical transformation. Neoliberalist contractions, natural catastrophes, and the nuclear disaster have contributed to an era of crisis that is local to Japan, while they are also an ongoing bellwether of global forces. As is happening elsewhere, Japan's construction of a new type of eco-city is being posed as a mediation of these varied conditions and forces; as a solution of sorts, it also promises to reorganize everyday life. Drawing on plans for the eco-city, this essay addresses the conditions of crisis and the implications for a restructuring of life now playing out in Japan. The focus is especially on a quality not always associated with globalization: stillness, both as an element of contemporary crisis, and of the possible life to come.

The rise of the Chinese ‘Other’ in Japan's construction of identity: Is China a focal point of Japanese nationalism?

Since 1945, the United States (US) has served as a focal point of both Left-wing and Right-wing Japanese nationalism. Both sides argued that the US was an arrogant hegemon that unjustly robbed Japan of its autonomy, and prevented Japan from achieving its own ideal national identity. Both sides frequently demanded that Japan should be more ‘resolute’ and resist unfair demands emanating from the US. In recent years, however, both camps are increasingly using the same rhetoric to criticise the Japanese government's China policy. China is also being depicted as an overbearing state that unfairly browbeats Japan into making diplomatic concessions. Given the similarities between the portrayal of China and the US, has China now become a nationalist focal point for both the Japanese Left and Right? Utilising constructivist insights, this article seeks to shed light on this question, by examining how the Japanese Right and Left portray China, and explores the implications for Japan's China policy.

ケース・スタディ : 建設機械, 投資市場としての中国・インド対比:―先進国の金融経済化, BRICsの台頭, 日本の立ち位置, の3つの構図を背景に―

ケース・スタディ : 建設機械, 投資市場としての中国・インド対比:―先進国の金融経済化, BRICsの台頭, 日本の立ち位置, の3つの構図を背景に―

Research on fall prevention and protection from heights in Japan.

The high frequency of fall accidents is a serious problem in Japan. Thus, more stringent countermeasures for preventing falls from scaffolds were developed and incorporated into institutional guidelines. These countermeasures aim to decrease deaths caused by falls from scaffolds. Despite the improvements in such measures, however, the rate of accidental fall deaths remains high in Japan’s construction industries. To improve the rigor of the countermeasures, a committee was established in our institute by the Japan Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare. This committee investigated the regulations applied in other countries and evaluated construction industry compliance with existing fall prevention guidelines. After considerable research and discussion, the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations and Guidelines were amended in 2009. The effects of the amended regulations have recently been investigated on the basis of accident reports. This paper describes the investigation and its results. The paper also discusses other research and workplace safety countermeasures for preventing falls and ensuring fall protection from heights.

Performing Shakespeare in Japan

List of illustrations List of contributions Preface Takahashi Yasunari Acknowledgements Introduction Minami Ryuta, Ian Carruthers and John Gillies Part I. Early Modern and Traditional Theatre Productions: 1. What do we mean by 'Japanese' Shakespeare? Anzai Tetsuo 2. Japan as 'half-civilized': and early Japanese adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Japan's construction of its national image in the late nineteenth century Yoshihara Yukari 3. Shakespeare in Kabuki James R. Brandon 4. Osanai Kaoru's version of Romeo and Juliet, 1904 Matsumoto Shinko 5. Some Noh adaptations of Shakespeare in English and Japanese Ueda Munakata Kuniyoshi 6. The Braggart Samurai: a Kyogen adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor Michael Shapiro Part II. Modern Productions (Post World War II): 7. Weaving the spider's web: interpretation of character in Kurosawa Akira's Throne of Blood (Kumonosu-jo) Paula von Loewenfeldt 8. Innovation and continuity: two decades of Deguchi Norio's Shakespeare Theatre Company Suematsu Michiko 9. Tragedy with laughter: Suzuki Tadashi's The Tale of Lear Takahashi Yasunari 10. The Chronicle of Macbeth: Suzuki method acting in Australia, 1992 Ian Curruthers 11. The rose and the bamboo: Noda Hideki's Sandaime Richado Suzuki Masae 12. Shakespeare reinvented on the contemporary Japanese stage Minami Ryuta 13. Juliet's girlfriends: the Takarazuka Revue Company and the Shojo culture Ohtani Tomoko 14. Directing 'Japanese Shakespeare' locally and universally: an interview with Gerald Murphy Ted Motohashi Part III. Interviews with Directors and Actors: 15. Interview with Deguchi Norio 16. Interview with Suzuki Tadashi 17. Interview with Ninagawa Yukio 18. Interview with Noda Hideki 19. Interview with Hira Mikijiro Afterword: Shakespeare removed: some reflections on the localization of Shakespeare in Japan John Gillies Index.

Self-Compacting Concrete

Development of Self-Compacting Concrete For several years beginning in 1983, the problem of the durability of concrete structures was a major topic of interest in Japan. The creation of durable concrete structures requires adequate compaction by skilled workers. However, the gradual reduction in the number of skilled workers in Japan's construction industry has led to a similar reduction in the quality of construction work. One solution for the achievement of durable con- structures independent of the quality of construc- tion work is the employment of self-compacting con- crete, which can be compacted into every corner of a formwork, purely by means of its own weight and with- out the need for vibrating compaction (Fig. 1). The necessity of this type of concrete was proposed by Okamura in 1986. Studies to develop self-compacting concrete, including a fundamental study on the work- ability of concrete, have been carried out by Ozawa and Maekawa at the University of Tokyo (Ozawa 1989, Okamura 1993 & Maekawa 1999). The prototype of self-compacting concrete was first completed in 1988 using materials already on the mar- ket (Fig. 2). The prototype performed satisfactorily with regard to drying and hardening shrinkage, heat of hydration, denseness after hardening, and other proper- ties. This concrete was named High Performance Con- crete and was defined as follows at the three stages of concrete:

Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism

In this first social and cultural history of Japan's construction of Manchuria, Louise Young offers an incisive examination of the nature of Japanese imperialism. Focusing on the domestic impact of Japan's activities in Northeast China between 1931 and 1945, Young considers metropolitan effects of empire building: how people at home imagined and experienced the empire they called Manchukuo. Contrary to the conventional assumption that a few army officers and bureaucrats were responsible for Japan's overseas expansion, Young finds that a variety of organizations helped to mobilize popular support for Manchukuo--the mass media, the academy, chambers of commerce, women's organizations, youth groups, and agricultural cooperatives--leading to broad-based support among diverse groups of Japanese. As the empire was being built in China, Young shows, an imagined Manchukuo was emerging at home, constructed of visions of a defensive lifeline, a developing economy, and a settler's paradise.

Growth, construction, and the environment: Japan's construction state

Growth, construction, and the environment: Japan's construction state

Education and Research in Japan's Construction Industry

The paper reports some general observations and specific examples on technological innovation in Japan’s construction industry. Educational background and scientific contribution of contractor-based researchers is addressed. With regard to university education, the difference between the disciplines of civil engineering and architecture and the relationship between university graduates and industry are discussed. With regard to research, the reasons that justify the existence of research-and-development (R&D) capabilities are given. The contribution of R&D efforts from general contractors to the advancement of technical knowledge in the form of papers and presentations is discussed. The organization of a specific technical research institute is shown as an example. The construction industry in Japan offers positive work conditions and is innovative rather than reactive to market demands. It is apparent that much could be gained by U.S. professionals by more closely monitoring Japanese technical output. R&D collaboration between U.S. and Japanese contractors should also be pursued.

Inspection of the Mandates, 1919-1941

Philippines.' Because of Japanese secretiveness regarding activities in these areas, Western officials and their publics gradually became convinced that the Japanese government was violating its promise not to construct military installations on these islands-a conviction that has persisted.2 Most accounts of Japanese-American relations during this period stress the unsuccessful efforts by the United States' Navy and State departments and the League of Nation's Permanent Mandates Commission to penetrate the bamboo veil woven by Tokyo authorities to isolate their central Pacific islands. The Far Eastern Military Tribunal, in its investigations of Japanese war crimes, did little to clarify the precise nature of Japan's construction in these islands prior to the war. Nor, indeed, have recently published historical studies moved much closer to eliminating the confusion surrounding Japan's prewar activities in its central Pacific mandates. Thus at least five essential, but interrelated, questions are posed by this interwar episode. What authority did the United States or