The 2016 Okinawa Professional Engineers Symposium organized by the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) Japan Post was held on November 7 and 8, 2016 at the AEON Mall Okinawa Rycom. Our Association Chairman Yoshida and Director Suyama gave their presentations as invited speakers. As a concurrent board member of the ASHRAE Japan Chapter, I first talked about the activities of the Japan Chapter and the importance of engaging with local business partners to strengthen business operations. I then introduced the Commissioning Association as a leading organization for networking in fields related to air conditioning. Chairman Yoshida followed up with a presentation on the BSCA and its education system. He introduced the BSCA as the only Japanese academic and business organization related to commissioning. Next, he described the BSCA's CxPE and CxTE qualification systems and the training required for the certifications to show that the trained engineers are provided adequate qualifications. Lastly, he presented the Kyoto Station Building and Nagasaki Prefectural Government Building projects which commissioning was provided and led by the BSCA. About 150 people attended the symposium, including engineers and US military officers from the symposium organizers, as well as people from the Ministry of Defense, speakers, participants from various companies working at the base and volunteer students. From the BSCA, aside from Mr. Yoshida and Mr. Suyama, Mr. Kitora (Kansai Electric Power), Mr. Yamamoto (Takasago Thermal Engineering), and staff from the Okinawa branches of Takasago Thermal Engineering and Hazama Ando Corporation attended.
SAME is an organization founded in 1920 and composed of engineers connected to the US military around the world with the aim of providing education, social services, social venues, and networking among its members to help uplift engineering. For the Japan Post, this was the first engineer symposium held with "education system" as the main theme, although social golf tournaments had been held. The lecture invitation first came to the ASHRAE Japan Chapter, which then led to the BSCA presentation, since many BSCA members are also ASHRAE members.
Apart from military facilities, there are many kinds of buildings inside the US bases including schools, hospitals, and residences, and each conducts their own respective commissioning (fundamental commissioning in lieu of completion inspection and for LEED certification). However, these commissioning works inherently involve issues such as high costs, since agents have to be brought over all the way from Hawaii or the mainland United States. The BSCA had been interviewed twice by the civil engineering department of the US armed forces and Japan's Ministry of Defense on this matter. Here, commissioning system and certification system for domestic Cx engineers which BSCA provide were presented. Moreover, there is interest in the BSCA as a means of approaching its corporate members. However, none of these suggestions have been adopted yet due in part to the low visibility of BSCA engineers and their range of engineering expertise. We gave a presentation at the SAME symposium in Okinawa to improve this situation.
Aside from the Commander of the 18th Civil Engineer Group and SAME Japan Post President, Colonel Robert Grainger, from the organizers, the symposium included speakers from the American Institute of Architects Japan, the US Embassy, the US military Contracting Squadron, and related companies. From the Japanese side, there were speakers from the Japan Society of Professional Engineers, Japan Society of the Defense Facility Engineers, Japan Society of Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, and the University of the Ryukyus. Two gatherings were held after each symposium day—an ice-breaking party and a farewell party—where the attendees networked and cultivated relationships. The BSCA was also requested to participate in the next symposium, as well as to get involved and assist with the engineering education and training of Japanese staff in the US military.
By participating and showing its presence in the symposium, I believe the BSCA was able to contribute positively toward increasing its visibility overseas and continue its efforts that began several years ago with interviews from the US military and other organizations and also BCA research presentations.

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State of the conference

Presentation the letter of thanks for our lecture and a memorial medal

A scene of a toast of the social gather