Japan's Coast Guard to boost personnel, build new ships

Japan's Coast Guard is planning to add 528 personnel to its workforce, marking the largest increase in its personnel in a fiscal year in 40 years, national broadcaster NHK said Tuesday. The additional personnel will see the coast guard's manpower increase to 13,328 people next year, coast guard officials said. The coast guard is also looking to secure 12.8 billion yen ( around 136 million U.S. dollars) in the fiscal 2014 budget to build and refurbish patrol ships for duties in the East China Sea, said the officials. The initial decision to build 12 ships was made by the coast guard in January and the current plan is to build 10 new cutting- edge ships and renovate two more with helicopter-carrying capabilities, the officials added. The entire budget request for fiscal 2014 totaled 193.6 billion yen, a rise of 12 percent compared to a year earlier, and includes provisions to build a permanent base on Ishigaki Island in Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, the coast guard said.