Japan Coast Guard


The Japan Coast Guard is the coast guard responsible for the protection of the coastline of Japan under the oversight of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. It consists of about 13,700 personnel. The Japan Coast Guard was founded in 1948 as the Maritime Safety Agency and received its current English name in 2000.
The motto of the Japan Coast Guard is "Righteous Benevolence".

History

Coast guard operations were performed by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Empire of Japan, but the ability of maintaining maritime security declined significantly following the surrender of Japan in August 1945 and the resulting dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Maritime trade and smuggling had increased dramatically, and even pirates had begun to appear. Consultations were undertaken between the Japanese government, which wanted to restore its public security capacity as soon as possible, and the Allied countries which wanted to maintain the disarmament of Japan. However, in 1946, an "Illegal Immigration Control Headquarters" was established in the Ministry of Transport after cholera was transmitted to Kyushu by smugglers from the Korean Peninsula. This resulted in an increase in severe infections.
Meanwhile, the GHQ/SCAP also recognized the deficiencies of the Japanese maritime security system and in March 1946 Captain Frank M. Meals of the United States Coast Guard was tasked to consider the situation. Captain Meals suggested the establishment of a comprehensive coast guard organization based on the USCG. In response to this, the Maritime Safety Agency was established as an external agency of the Ministry of Transportation in 1948. Its English name was changed to the Japan Coast Guard in April 2000. In 1952 the Coastal Safety Agency was created with ships supplied by the United States and spun off in 1954 as the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force.

Minesweeping operations

Immediately after the end of World War II, a large number of aerial mines laid by the US military were left in the waters around Japan, and clearing them became an important mission of the MSA. For this mission, minesweepers of the former Imperial Japanese Navy were incorporated into the MSA and later were transferred to the Safety Security Force, a predecessor of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.
In addition to activities in Japan's waters, in 1950, two flotillas of minesweepers were sent to the Korean Peninsula under the United Nations flag during the Korean War.

Regional cooperation

In October 1999, Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi presented a series of major maritime anti-piracy cooperation proposals to ASEAN members. These proposals included having the Japan Coast Guard patrol regional waters alongside ASEAN maritime forces so as to establish a "regional coast guard body," strengthening state support for shipping companies, and improving coordination of regional responses to maritime attacks. Representatives of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore expressed interest in the idea, although further discussions held by Obuchi's successor, Yoshirō Mori, did not yield warm responses, and Chinese representatives questioned the need for any regional anti-piracy cooperation. Nonetheless, these ideas finally materialized somewhat in 2001 when armed Japan Coast Guard ships ventured into foreign waters in order to provide Indian, Thai, and Filipino maritime forces with anti-piracy training. Nations which took part in these exercises for the first time included Brunei and Indonesia in 2002, as well as Singapore in 2003.
Nonetheless, successive efforts by Japanese authorities to further promote a multilateral and regional maritime defense system have stalled due to disagreements and lack of commitment by regional powers, and Japanese players have tended to favour bilateral discussions instead.

Establishment of 118 emergency number

In May 2000, the Japan Coast Guard introduced a nationwide emergency number, 118, for reporting accidents at sea, oil spills, suspicious vessels, smuggling, and illegal immigration. It can be dialed from mobile phones, landline phones, public phones, and marine radiotelephones in Japan. In 2018, there were 5,028 calls to 118 regarding accidents or possible accidents at sea.

Battle of Amami-Ōshima

On December 22, 2001, Japan Coast Guard ships intercepted a Chinese-flagged vessel, believed to be North Korean in origin, in the Japanese Exclusive Economic Zone between Kyushu and China. When the vessel failed to respond, she was fired upon by the Japan Coast Guard ships and an exchange of gunfire resulted. The unidentified vessel sank in the Chinese Exclusive Economic Zone with all hands. The ship, later salvaged by the Japan Coast Guard, was found to be carrying weapons and spy equipment. The wreck and its contents were put on display at the Japan Coast Guard Museum at Yokohama.

Haneda Airport Collision

On January 2, 2024, a Japan Coast Guard DHC-8 'Mizunagi 1' providing relief support in response to the 2024 Noto earthquake collided with a Japan Airlines Flight 516, an Airbus A350-900, resulting in the deaths of five Coast Guard aircrew and the severe injury of a sixth. The crash occurred at Tokyo's Haneda Airport.

Missions

The mission of the Japan Coast Guard is to ensure security and safety at sea. It is responsible for performing the following tasks:
Although the Japan Coast Guard is legally a civilian organization as stipulated in Article 25 of the Coast Guard Law, it has seen increased quasi-military responsibilities and has wide latitude in its domestic and border security missions. In emergency situations, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force can assist the Japan Coast Guard in conducting law enforcement activities as stipulated in Article 82 of the Self-Defense Forces Law, and the Japan Coast Guard may be placed under the direction of the Minister of Defense as stipulated in Article 80 of the SDFL. In such case, the Minister of Defense is able to give orders to the commandant of the Japan Coast Guard. However, the Japan Coast Guard is not allowed to use force against foreign governments or naval vessels and the JMSDF is likewise constrained in its operations in support of the Japan Coast Guard. In contrast, the China Coast Guard is allowed to use force against foreign governments or naval vessels, which are supposed to be protected by international law.
With China stepping up its grey-zone activities to challenge Japan, taking advantage of the gap between the Japan Coast Guard and the JMSDF in particular, some members of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party have argued that the Japan Coast Guard should be more forceful in its opposition to China.

Organization

National Headquarters

The Japan Coast Guard is led by a Commandant and two Vice Commandants. Lower ranking officers include the director general, directors and inspectors general.
Organization:
  • Commandant
  • *Vice Commandant
  • *Vice Commandant for Operations
  • Administrative Inspector General
  • Administration Department
  • Coast Guard Research Center
  • Equipment and Technology Department
  • Guard and Rescue Department
  • Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department
  • Maritime Traffic Department
  • Coast Guard Academy
  • Coast Guard School
  • *Moji Branch
  • *Miyagi Branch
  • **Kitakyushu Aviation Training Center
The Japan Coast Guard Academy is a training institution, located in Kure, Hiroshima prefecture, established within the Coast Guard for the purpose of training cadets and officer candidates to become officers. Cadets of Regular Course are given a bachelor's degree upon graduation after four years of duration. About 60 cadets and 100 officer candidates graduate from the academy each year.
The Japan Coast Guard School is a training institution, located in Maizuru, Kyoto prefecture, where students to become enlisted personnel or receive further education and training. Moji Branch is for training the qualified personnel until the age of 61 for vessels, aircraft, and radio communications, also providing specialized training. Miyagi Branch has flight programs for helicopter aviators, maintenance technicians and radio operators, meanwhile subordinating Kitakyushu Aviation Training Center has flight programs for airplane aviators.

Operational units

Regional organization

The JCG has divided the nation into eleven regions to facilitate its coast guard operations. Each region maintains a Regional Coast Guard Headquarters, under which there are various Coast Guard Offices, Coast Guard Stations, Air Stations, Hydrographic Observatory, and Traffic Advisory Service Centers.
Local BureausHeadquarters LocationRegion of Responsibility
1st Regional Coast Guard HeadquartersOtaru, HokkaidoHokkaido, Northern Territories
2nd Regional Coast Guard HeadquartersShiogama, MiyagiAomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima
3rd Regional Coast Guard HeadquartersYokohama, KanagawaIbaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Shizuoka
4th Regional Coast Guard HeadquartersNagoya, AichiGifu, Aichi, Mie
5th Regional Coast Guard HeadquartersKobe, HyogoShiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Nara, Wakayama, Tokushima, Kochi
6th Regional Coast Guard HeadquartersHiroshima, HiroshimaOkayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Kagawa, Ehime
7th Regional Coast Guard HeadquartersKitakyushu, FukuokaYamaguchi, Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Oita
8th Regional Coast Guard HeadquartersMaizuru, KyotoKyoto, Fukui, Hyogo, Tottori, Shimane
9th Regional Coast Guard HeadquartersNiigata, NiigataNiigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Nagano
10th Regional Coast Guard HeadquartersKagoshima, KagoshimaKumamoto, Miyazaki, Kagoshima
11th Regional Coast Guard HeadquartersNaha, OkinawaOkinawa