The Japan Sabo Association (JSA) has been actively promoting international exchange activities as part of its ongoing sabo-related project efforts. To further stimulate its activities, JSA has planned to hold sabo seminars and study tours in overseas countries. Its first seminar was held in France on June 10-17, 2006.

A group of 15 persons from sabo-related organizations and Japan Society of Erosion Control Engineering attended this overseas seminar, led by Masao Okamoto, Managing Director of JSA. Among the participants were Tadahiro Matsushita, Chairman of the Japan Association for Slope Disaster Management (JASDiM); Minoru Tanaka, Vice Chairman of JASDiM; Masaru Touhei, Senior Researcher at the Public Works Research Institute (PWRI); Munemasa Terashima, Mayor of Ikusaka Village in Nagano Prefecture; and Ryoichi Ogiso, Mayor of Neba Village in Nagano Prefecture.

In addition to the seminar, the participants visited various sites to deepen their insights. They visited the Sanieres mountain stream known as the model of the French style stair-stepped channel works at the Ushibuse River in Nagano Prefecture which was designed by Maruo Ikeda, an engineer of the Department of Interior who visited civil engineering facilities in France and other European countries in the 1910s. They also visited the Faucon stream, Bourdoux stream, Proche landslide site, La Valette landslide site, Draix Field Laboratory for Studying Erosion and Solid Transport, and the world's oldest civil engineering school in Paris.