On 25 and 26 March, in cooperation with the Customs Training Institute and the Hakodate Customs of the Ministry of Finance, 11 students from the Customs Course of the Public Finance Program visited Hakodate Customs Headquarters, whose mandate covers Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate and Akita prefectures, and Chitose Branch Customs at New Chitose Airport. The aim of the two-day visit was to give the students an opportunity to learn about measures to ensure smooth customs clearance of increasing volumes of cargo and passengers, and realizing a safe and secure society with proper and fair collection of customs duties and other taxes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the first day at Hakodate Customs Headquarters, the students learned customs clearance practices, including the use of NACCS (Nippon Automated Cargo and Port Consolidated System); and practices of enforcement such as the use of inspection equipment, including Mobile X-ray inspection equipment (X-ray vehicles). On the second day, the students visited Chitose Branch Customs, where they were given an in-depth look at customs clearance for air passengers, using equipment such as electronic declaration gates, fixed X-ray machines, Trace Detection System and drug detector dogs.

 

At both venues, the students actively asked questions about insights on how to cope with increasing cargo and passenger volumes and usage of the above equipment, taking consideration of the situation in their home countries. There were also exchanges of opinion with young officers responsible for practical duties, regarding the customs environment in the students' home countries; this gave the students and the customs officers a valuable opportunity to acquire a detailed understanding of each other's environments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Public Finance Program

https://www.grips.ac.jp/jp/education/inter_programs/finance/