Akashi, Japan -- January 15, 2004 -- Kenji iino, vice chair of ASF, was invited to speak to the staff members of Akashi city, Department of Water. About 70 people gathered to listen to his talk about "Study of Failure and Its application to Crisis Management for Recent Accidents"

The city of Akashi suffered the disastrous collapse of a pedestrian bridge in July of 2001 during a fireworks show and of a man-made beach that killed a 5 years old girl when it sank. With the new Mayor Mr. Kitaguchi, the city is placing much effort in their administration not to repeat the same or similar happenings from taking place. Introduced by the Department Manager, Mr. Okamoto, iino gave his talk about introduction to the study of failure, and the root cause problems behind the recent accidents in Japan.

After the talk, Kenji had a chance to visit a small town named Maiko to look at one of the most beautiful bridges, the Great Bridge of Akashi. Advancement of technology can build such a grand structure to support the lives of many people, but at the same time it can cause disasters that even take away their lives. It is all in the hands of us that make use of technology. (-moniik)