This book contains English translation of laws and regulations which are handled by Japan Coast Guard. Laws and regulations related to ship's and seafarers' standards which are handled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastracture and Transport are not contained in this book.

You are requested to pay attention to the following:

1. The official language of the Japanese Government is naturally, Japanese, therefore the laws and regulations of this country in any language other than Japanese cannot be official. However, we made efforts for foreign mariners to understand these laws and regulations easily by means of describing in English;

2. Certain articles regarded as unnecessary or unimportant for foreign mariners and some annexed tables containing too detailed informations are eliminated either in part or its entirety due to limited pages;

3. In this book "LIT" is short for "Land, Infrastructure and Transport" and "JCG" is short for "the Japan Coast Guard".

4. Japanese proper nouns such as the names of places are expressed based on the Roman Spelling System (Modified Hepburn System).

5. We are planning to revise this book periodically as needs arise to keep the contents up-to-date. Some regulations, especially the Special Rules for Individual Ports of the Regulations for the Enforcement of the Port Regulations Law, are very frequently changed, so your efforts to obtain the latest information, as occasion demands, will be appreciated.