Abstract
This volume of the International Journal of the Japanese Committee for Rock Mechanics presents the papers whose authors were invited to give the main lectures at the 12 th Japan Symposium on Rock Mechanics. We express our sincere appreciation to the lecturers for submitting their papers to this special issue. The Japan Symposium on Rock Mechanics (JSRM) has been held every three or four years since 1964 through the collaboration of the Japanese Committee for Rock Mechanics (the Japanese National Group of International Society for Rock Mechanics), the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, the Japanese Geotechnical Society, the Mining and Materials Processing Institute of Japan and the Society of Materials Science, Japan. The 12th JSRM was held at Yamaguchi University, Ube, Japan from September 2-4, 2008. The themes of the Symposium were “Collaboration in Asia” and “Engineering Education for the Young Generation”. We invited five representative guests from Australia, China, India, Korea and Singapore, and two special guests from Japan. The technical sessions, with presentations in English, were prepared to facilitate research exchange among Japanese and foreign participants. In addition, the Symposium provided a forum for gathering together senior experts and young engineers and students. We announced our plans for the 12th JSRM to Japanese and foreign students, as well as to former students who are working in their own countries as young engineers and researchers. We were very pleased to have 144 technical papers and seven invited lectures, and eleven exhibitors at the Symposium. The 296 participants came from eight countries. We hope that this special issue can bring back the atmosphere of the Symposium to the readers of the Journal and will lead to the development of activities in the field of Rock Mechanics around the world. Acknowledgements Special thanks are given to the editor and to the reviewers of this special issue of the Journal.
