Editor's Note

PWRI Web Magazine Editorial Staff
P.R. Managerial Meeting
<Tsukuba>
General Manager: Dr. Kazunori Wada   Representative managers: Mr. Eiji Aoki, Ms.Harumi Moriki, Mr. Toshio Yarimizo, Mr. Masuo Kondo, Mr. Minoru Kikuchi, Mr. Makoto Kimura
Managers: Mr. Yoshiaki Sato, Mr. Takahiro Yamanashi, Mr. Akira Kamakura, Mr. Yoshinori Nonomura, Ms. Yuko Nagaya, Mr. Yuya Kato, Dr. Mamoru Suwa, Mr. Yuji Okayasu, Mr. Hitoshi Umino, Mr. Koji Ishida, Mr. Nobuharu Isago, Mr. Tomoyuki Noro, Mr. Yasushi Josen
<CERI>
Mr. Atsushi Yoshii, Mr. Wataru Suzuki   Representative managers: Mr. Osamu Hatakeyama, Mr. Masahiro Shibata   Managers: Mr. Hirofumi Kitsuta, Ms. Yuri Sakai, Ms. Maiko Kawanaka



Editor's Note
The CERI Open House was held on July 3rd and 4th. In this yearly event, individual research teams display their ingenuity in presenting their research activities and results. In the auditorium on the first floor of the administrative building, panels were exhibited to introduce the activities of the entire Institute. For this year's panel exhibition, panels of photos of Sapporo City in the early to mid-Showa period were displayed in a change from previous years' panel exhibitions.
From the photos of those days, I learned for the first time that in the 1950s, snow was removed manually and disposed of using horse sleds. I suppose there were snow plow machines available in those days as well, but as a person born in 1963, I thought of the 1950s as fairly recent and the photos were quite surprising.
This issue of the Web Magazine contains an article about the Eco Car Festival. The advancement of research on biogas and other alternative fuel sources is beginning to give variety to automobile fuels in addition to fossil fuels. In the past, the main roles in civil engineering and construction projects were played by people and horses. Now construction machinery has come to take the central role and the next stage may be the use of construction machinery fueled by biogas generated from animal excreta. After that ••• well, who knows what the future will bring? However, we intend to continue with steady research activities while looking ahead to the future to solve problems we have at present.
(Hirofumi Kitsuta)