History of Moji Customs 　The history of Moji Customs dates back to 1889 when a Customs Sub-branch office under the jurisdiction of Nagasaki Customs was placed in Moji Port. Moji Port was then designated as a special port for export of coal, rice, wheat, flour and sulfur. 　Meanwhile the sub-branch office was upgraded to a Customs branch office with the development of the port, and in November 1909, it was separeted from Nagasaki Customs to become seventh regional Customs in Japan. 　As the world war got fierce and foreign trade became stagnant, Moji Customs was closed in 1943. 　It was re-opened in June 1946, as the regional Customs covering the whole area of Kyushu Island and Yamaguchi prefecture. In 1953, Nagasaki Customs was separated from Moji Customs to be another regional Customs. 　Now we are working hard to protect the community and to contribute to the development of the region which is the gateway to the Asia Pacific Region. Jurisdiction and Organization of Moji Customs 　The customs is a regional agency under the Ministry of Finance. There are nine regional Customs, Hakodate, Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, Moji, Nagasaki, and Okinawa from north to south. Moji Customs covers the following wide area as its jurisdiction : the prefectures of Yamaguchi, Oita, Miyazaki, Fukuoka and Saga (excluding the area along Ariake Bay), and the islands of Iki and Tsushima. 　There are eighteen open sea ports for foreign trade and international airports.