HIDAJournal 2012 AUTUMN

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HIDA Journal No. 1 ● AUTUMN 201216HIDA NewsEarthquake retrofitting at Tokyo Kenshu CenterAfter construction was completed (light wall and vaulted interior)Under construction (installing steel braces)HIDA currently has four Kenshu Cen-ters. Of the four, Tokyo Kenshu Center (built in 1982) was the oldest, and was constructed based on the old earth-quake resistance standards. As such, the building was assessed for earthquake resistance following the Great East Ja-pan Earthquake last March. The results indicated part of the building required reinforcement. Consequently, the build-ing underwent earthquake resistance upgrades between April and July 2012. Although the Tokyo Kenshu Center ap-pears to be a single L-shaped building, it is in fact comprised of two structur-ally separate buildings. The target of the upgrade was the part known as the A Building, including the canteen, lobby, and office of the General Affairs Divi-sion, located on the first floor. The following provides an overview of the construction work, which consisted primarily of three projects. 1. Earthquake-resistant slit workThis project covered mainly private rooms. The project involved adding slits to the part where pillars meet walls in order to reduce excessive load on the pillars, which form the main structure of the building. Many people think that earthquake reinforcement means adding support or making structures thicker, so cutting into the building frame causes concerns that this action could make the building structure weaker. However, this work actually helps make the building more structurally sound. This project took the most days to com-plete because slits were added at 153 locations. 2. Reinforcing steel brace installationThis project was the broadest and main part of all the earthquake reinforcement work. It involved placing reinforcing steel braces on the window side of the canteen at three locations. The interior of the canteen was changed to a vaulted ceiling in order to hide the steel braces and also to incorporate as much natu-ral light as possible from the windows. Parts of the steel braces where an open-ing could not be made because the span was narrow were enclosed in the wall. Installing an LED light wall to compen-sate for lighting intensity also helped make broad changes to the canteen before and after the construction (see photographs). 3. Installation of reinforcing wall This project involved making existing walls thicker at two locations and install-ing a new structural wall at one location. A new wall was installed in the area once used as a reception room at the entrance to the General Affairs Division before the construction work.This construction work has ensured that HIDA Kenshu Centers meet cur-rent earthquake-resistance standards. In addition to strengthening the actual building, HIDA has also built a system to respond to emergencies at any time based on its continued regular evacua-tion drills and fire fighting drills. As a result, trainees and host companies of trainees can use HIDA facilities with added peace of mind.E-mail addresses ending in “…@aots.or.jp” or “…@jodc.or.jp” can no longer be used starting in October 2012. This is be-cause the former domain names for AOTS and JODC expired in September 2012. Until the end of September e-mail will be automatically forwarded to the new domain at “…@hidajapan.or.jp.” E-mail will no longer be forwarded starting in October. Please be kindly noted that the account names of some HIDA staffers may also be changed. The former AOTS and JODC homepages will also be shut down in September. Please use the new website described below:http://www.hidajapan.or.jp/hida/en/index.html.HIDA's E-mail Addresses and Homepages

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