■ Message from the Director-General
  As a part of the administrative reorganization of the Japanese Government, the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management (NILIM), the only national institute in the field of housing and infrastructure, was established in April 2001 by reorganizing the Public Works Research Institute, the Building Research Institute and the Port and Harbor Research Institute of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
  The mission of the NILIM is to conduct comprehensive research and development to support the planning and enactment of technological policies of the MLIT for the benefit of the citizens who are the end users of the housing and infrastructure. The NILIM carries out research in accordance with the public's needs and informs citizens of the technological background to policies intended to establish national and social systems necessary to create a beautiful land with safety and vitality.
  On the other hand, the NILIM promotes international cooperation such as participating in the process of drawing up of international standards, urgent technical support when earthquakes occur, and making an international contribution through the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). The NILIM takes action to resolve global scale environmental problems and water management issues, and to develop technologies for mitigating earthquake disasters.
  On July 2001, the research policy of NILIM was settled that described a set of medium to long term research objectives. This document identifies 16 research subjects relevant to the technological policies that will be given priority.
  On January 2002 that was the official start of NILIM operations, 14 research projects began. Each project has a clearly defined goal that corresponds to one or some of the research subjects stipulated by the research policy and is conducted by researchers with varying backgrounds led by a project leader.
  We are taking this opportunity to publish the NILIM News Letter that is a quarterly report on our activities for foreign people with links to the NILIM. We hope that you read it regularly.

Tadayuki TAZAKI, Director-General, NILIM








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