Applications for user registration of automatic gates were first accepted at the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau and the Narita Airport District Immigration Office in November 2007, followed by the Nagoya Regional Immigration Bureau, the Chubu Airport District Immigration Office, the Osaka Regional Immigration Bureau and the Kansai Airport District Immigration Bureau in September 2009.

[Topic: Promotion of efforts for realizing a tourism-oriented country]

The “New Growth Strategy” (decided by the Cabinet on June 18, 2010), presenting a strategy to bring about a “strong economy”, stipulates that the number of foreign visitors should be increased to 25 million by the beginning of the year 2020 and to 30 million people in the not-so-distant future. The Immigration Bureau is working on further shortening of the time required for immigration examination procedures.

## Section 2 ◆ Strengthened Countermeasures at the Border

To protect the lives and safety of the general public, it is extremely important to unfailingly prevent terrorists, etc., who are disguised as tourists, from entering the country at the border. Since the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, the Immigration Bureau has been continuously implementing strict immigration examination in order to remove such terrorists at the border.

## 1 Implementation of Immigration Examination through the Use of Personal Identification Information

Since November 20, 2007, foreign nationals who intend to enter Japan have been required to submit personal identification information (fingerprints and a facial photograph). This enables us to accurately and promptly confirm that an applicant for landing permission is identical to the passport holder, and to check the applicant against the blacklist maintained by the Immigration Bureau. In addition, it has become possible to detect, without fail, those who have previously been displaced and again try to enter the country illegally using forged or altered passports or others' passports by checking them against data on fingerprints and facial photographs of those displaced in the past, which is maintained by the Immigration Bureau.

On the other hand, after the implementation of immigration examination through the use of personal identification information, there have been many cases of illegal immigrants who try to enter the country illegally with fake fingerprints by damaging them directly or going through a surgical procedure, or with altered passports, in order to avoid detection of their displacement in the past. If such fake fingerprint cases occur, the Immigration Bureau should not only adopt procedures for displacement, but also cause them to be subject to strict punishment, including criminal punishment. Therefore, the Bureau makes a report and accusation of illegal entry to investigative authorities, and is striving to detect fake fingerprints by upgrading devices.

## 2 Use of the ICPO's Database on Lost and Stolen Passports

The “Action Plan for the Prevention of the Terrorism” (decided by the Headquarters for the Promotion of Measures against Transnational Organized Crime (TOC), Other Related Issues and International Terrorism on December 10, 2004) stipulated that a system to use the ICPO’s Database on Lost and Stolen Passports in the