## Article: At the front line of immigration control administration (voice of an immigration inspector in charge of immigration examinations) (Hakata Port Branch Office, Fukuoka Regional Immigration Bureau: Sawako Hatta)

Hakata Port Branch Office of Fukuoka Immigration Bureau which is where I work is the seaport in Japan, which has the largest number of foreign nationals entering and departing, and moreover is the branch office which sees the biggest number of large cruise ships coming into port. The main duties of this office are the handling of the immigration procedures for the passengers and crew members coming to Japan aboard the liner service connecting Busan in

South Korea to Hakata, cargo ships and large cruise ships.

The landing procedures for crew members differ from those for passengers in that the captain or an agency applies for landing instead of the crew member. In some cases, the crew member may remain on the ship without landing. The status of the crew member naturally depends on the crew member being onboard a ship, but if for example a crew member gets sick and needs to be hospitalized in Japan during which time the ship the crew member was on has to depart from the port, special landing procedures

known as permission for emergency landing need to be taken. At seaports we often encounter unique landing cases which differ from those seen at airports, and therefore, the study of law is essential.

In recent years, the number of large cruise ships coming to Hakata Port has been on the rise. One large cruise ship usually has approximately 2,000 to 3,600 passengers and 700 to 1,200 crew members onboard. Recently, the popularity of cruise ship tours in China has meant that the majority of passengers are Chinese nationals.

Cruise ship tours only remain in port for a short time before they depart again. For example, a cruise ship may come into port at six in the morning and depart at six in the evening during which time passengers undergo the entry examinations and head out to go sightseeing. Therefore, unlike when foreign visitors normally come to Japan by ship or plane, the passengers have a strong desire to land quickly and start sightseeing, which means that “speed” is key in conducting the entry examinations.

However, simply pursuing speed means that the standard of “strictness” at the border demanded by immigration control administration may be lowered. Therefore, the challenge is to balance the two aspects of maintaining a certain standard of examinations while simultaneously pursuing speed.

In recent years, with respect to large cruise ships, which meet certain conditions, a balance is being achieved by allowing identification of the passengers using photocopies of the passports and cross-checking of fingerprints.

It is expected that large cruise ships with even larger passenger capacities will be calling at ports in Japan in the future, and therefore further reform of the examination system is due to be carried out. In this regard, the work of examination for large cruise ships will become one of the most important items in immigration control administration.

There is also the factor that the examinations for large cruise ships take place early in the morning, which is both physically and mentally exhausting, but this work is also rewarding and affords a sense of accomplishment. While maintaining equitable immigration control, I hope to conduct examinations which convey a feeling of hospitality so that foreign nationals will feel like they’d like to visit Japan again.