SASEBO, Japan (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Japanese naval destroyers set sail on Friday for the Indian Ocean as a step toward broader military support for U.S.-led strikes in Afghanistan, the first such move for Japanese forces since World War Two.The three ships from the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) set sail under sunny winter skies from Sasebo naval base on Japan's southwestern island of Kyushu to gather information on weather, port conditions and ship traffic.
Sailors' relatives quietly saw off their loved ones from the docks, while groups opposed to and supporting the dispatch clashed over loudspeakers.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's National Security Council formally approved the dispatch on Thursday evening.
Activists on two fishing boats sailed around the departing vessels in a symbolic attempt to stop them before being driven away by Coast Guard patrol boasts.
Right-wing nationalist groups showed their support for the sailors in their own fashion, playing military songs from speakers mounted on their campaign trucks.
Japan's post-war, U.S.-drafted constitution prohibits the use of force as a means to settle international disputes.
Successive governments have interpreted that to mean a ban on collective self-defense, or aiding allies when they are attacked.
With the overseas dispatch of forces a touchy topic at home and in Asia, where memories of Japanese militarism run deep, it was only in 1992 that Tokyo enacted a law to let its military join U.N. peacekeeping in non-combat, logistical roles.
But Japanese leaders are keen to avoid a rerun of Japan's 1991 diplomatic embarrassment, when it was criticized for declining to commit even a token force to the Gulf War. Tokyo did send mine-sweepers to the Gulf after the war was over.