Japanese research in flow of fluids through porous materials and filtration

During the summer of 1962 I visited Japan on a grant from the National Science Foundation to survey Japanese work in the field of filtration and flow of fluids through porous materials. Because of the language barrier and the Japanese manner of publishing, the Western countries are generally quite unfamiliar with Oriental work. On the other hand, I found that many Japanese scientists were very familiar with Western work in their fields of specialization. Japanese publication of scientific and engineering studies takes two major forms: in the journals of their respective professional societies, and in the faculty memoirs of their universities. While the journal publications receive wide circulation, the faculty memoirs do not, so that the extent of work in a particular field cannot be ascertained solely from the contents of the professional journals.