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, Managers: Mr. Yoshiaki Sato, Mr. Takahiro Yamanashi, Mr. Akira Kamakura, Mr. Takayuki Ayabe, Ms. Yuko Nagaya, Mr. Yuya Kato, Mr. Junji Kato, Dr. Masatoshi Denda, Mr. Hiroki Sakamoto, Mr. Takeshi Shimizu, Mr. Nobuharu Isago, Mr. Yoshikazu Shimizu, Mr. Yasushi Josen
<CERI>
General Manager: Dr. Atsushi Yoshii, Managers: Mr. Hiroshi Ota, Mr. Satoshi Mori, Mr.Yoshio Ninomiya, Mr.Morito Takahashi, Mr. Hiroyasu Kyoshi, Dr. Motoki Asano, Dr. Yoshiaki Hideshima, Mr. Yukinori Outi

Editor´s Note

When changing channels on my analog TV a few days ago, I happened upon a program featuring a lecture on philosophy, and I watched it to its conclusion. I fell into a nostalgic mood as I recalled my college years. It was exactly the same as, when happening to pass by my old elementary or junior high school, I am overcome with feelings of longing for the past and stop to look at my former school. I think philosophy is the academic field which is the foundation of law, so philosophy is a big help in making a decision when I encounter a new problem. It is said, "A skill is as good as money in the bank."
The day of the Hyogo-ken Nanbu Earthquake in 1995, I lived in Kyushu. In the first period physical education class, the instructor expressed his concern for a student who came from Osaka. (At that time, TV news was reported the center of the earthquake was in Osaka.) Later as I watched images of bridge piers wrapped in steel plate on the news, I had no way of knowing that this construction method had been confirmed to be effective as a countermeasure through testing performed at PWRI. I also remember when I, a humanities student, was transferred to PWRI where I accompanied visitors to view the three-dimensional large scale shaking table.
When I returned home during consecutive holidays on May, the road in front of my home had been transformed into drainage pavement where puddles could not form. At that time, I recalled that land appraisal items included the state of adjoining streets (width, condition of pavement, network, etc.). Land appraisal standards are not revised very often, so they do not respond to new pavement technologies. Among factors of high valuation on land caused by the special pavement they introduced is only the color block pavement often seen in shopping districts. They clearly state that cracking is a factor lowering prices. There are cases that your assessed value should increase if drainage pavement is installed, or that the land value will not fall even if the pavement is cracked, because it is firmly reinforced with a seal material. I wish you to point out drainage pavement and a seal material injection method of having read the PWRI Web magazine, if your own land is assessed. If you widly insist on a high valuation for money, I'm afraid that the tax office may set a high valuation on your fixed assets, and that the German idealist Kant* will not have a high opinion of your effort as a virtuous action even though you study.

* According to Immanuel Kant, whether an action is or is not virtuous can be decided considering the motives behind it.

(Yoshiaki Sato)