Ports and Harbours Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, MLIT Port and Airport Research InstituteTECHNICAL STANDARDS AND COMMENTARIES FOR PORT AND HARBOUR FACILITIES IN JAPANTHE OVERSEAS COASTAL AREA DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE OF JAPAN2009FOREWORDForewordThisbookisatranslationof“the Technical Standards and Commentaries for Port and Harbour Facilities in Japan”(hereinaftercalled“theTechnicalStandards”),whichsummarizestheministeria lordinanceand publicnoticearticlesaswellastherelatedcommentariesandtechnicalnotesinconnectionw iththe“Technical StandardsforPortandHarbourFacilities”establishedbyJapansMinistryofLand,Infras tructure,Transport andTourism(MLIT)basedontheprovisionsofthePortandHarbourLaw.Thistranslationhasbee nmade withtheapprovaloftheauthorsincludingthePortsandHarboursBureauofMLIT,NationalInst ituteforLand andInfrastructureManagement(NILIM;alsoapartofMLIT),andthePortandAirportResearchI nstitute (PARI;anIndependentAdministrativeInstitution). Japanisanislandnationwithfewundergroundresources.Thecountrycomprisesapproximatel y6,800 islands,andhasanareaof380,000squarekilometersandatotalcoastlineof34,000km.Forthi sreason, industry,whichsupportsthenationseconomy,hasbeenlocatedincoastalareaswithportsa ndharborsfor convenienceinimportingrawmaterialsandexportingproducts.Giventheseconditions,Japa nhasconstructed, improvedandmodernizedapproximately1,100portsandharborsaswellasapproximately3,000 fishingports duringthepastoneandahalfcenturies.Because99%oftradenowdependsonportsandharbors,t heyplay aparticularlyimportantroleinJapan. Japanwasaclosedcountryforabout220years,fromtheearly17thcenturyuntilthemid- 19thcentury. FollowingtheMeijiRestorationof1868,modernizationprogressedrapidly.Duringthemoder nizationperiod, youngJapaneseengineerslearnedfromexperiencedengineersinvitedtoJapanfromabroad,an dconstructed modernportsandharbors,suchasthePortsofYokohamaandKobe. ThefirstJapanesemanualonportandharbortechnologywasreleasedin1943andwassubsequent ly revisedanumberoftimes.Underthe1974revisionofthePortsandHarboursLaw,“theTechnicalStandards forPortandHarbourFacilities”areprovidedintheformofministerialordinances.Thefirs teditionofthe present“TechnicalStandards”waspublishedbytheJapanPortandHarbourAssociationin19 79andithas beenrevisedthreetimesasofthiswriting.AnEnglish- languageeditionofthe“TechnicalStandards”was firstpublishedin1980,andwasrevisedandreissuedin1991and2002correspondingtotherevi sionsofthe Japanese“TechnicalStandards.” BecausemanyportsandharborsinJapanfacetheopensea,aconsiderablenumberofportsareexp osed towaveswithheightsexceeding10m.Furthermore,manyJapaneseportsandharborshavebeenco nstructed onthickstrataofcohesivesoildepositedontheseabottom.BecauseJapanisalsooneofthewor ldsmost earthquake-prone nations, the facilities of ports and harbors are exposed to severe natural disasters of earthquakesandtsunamis.Manyeffortsfortechnicaldevelopmenthavebeenundertakentoena bleconstruction ofportandharborfacilitiesthatarebothsafeandeconomicalunderthesedifficultnaturalc onditions.Asa resultoftheseefforts,itisfairtosaythatJapanpossessestheworldsmostadvancedlevel oftechnologyfor wave-resistantdesign,earthquake- resistantdesignofportandharborfacilities,andcountermeasuresforsoft ground. The2007editionof“theTechnicalStandards,”inadditiontoincorporatingthemostadvanc edtechnology, hasfullyincorporatedtheapproachbasedon“performance- baseddesign”inresponsetoworldwidedemands thatthenationalstandardsbebasedon“performancecriteria,”asadvocatedintheTBTAgre ement(Agreement onTechnicalBarrierstoTrade).“TheTechnicalStandards”areconsistentwiththefollowi nginternational standards,andrepresentacompilationofJapansworld- classknowledgeinconnectionwithtechnologyfor portsandharbors:TECHNICAL STANDARDS AND COMMENTARIES FOR PORT AND HARBOUR FACILITIES IN JAPANISO2394Generalprinciplesonreliabilityforstructures, ISO23469BasesfordesignofstructuresSeismicactionsfordesigninggeotechnicalworks, ISO21650Actionsfromwavesandcurrentsoncoastalstructures. ThesystemoftechnicalstandardsinJapanisstructuredwith“ministerialordinances”and “publicnotices” whichspecifyconcretemethodsinconnectionwith“theTechnicalStandards”thatportandh arborfacilities mustsatisfybasedonthePortsandHarboursLaw.Theyaresupplementedwiththe“commentarie s”and “technicalnotes”onthoseordinancesandpublicnotices.Basically,thisstructureisfol lowedintheEnglish edition.Althoughthereareduplicationsinvariouspartsoftheexplanation,thereaderisaskedtounderstand thatsuchduplicationsreflectthestructureoftheStandardsintheJapaneseversion.“Somed escriptiononthe performance- baseddesignandthepartialfactorandsystemreliability“areincludedinAnnexesasanaidfo r thereadersunderstanding. Because technology in respective countries has been developed to conform to the conditions in each country,theremaybeaspectsofthecontentof“theTechnicalStandards”whicharedifficul tforpersonsfrom otherco