A Japanese warship with a high-tech missile detection system has left for the Indian Ocean in a move some analysts say signals support for a possible US-led attack on Iraq.
The 7,250-tonne destroyer Kirishimaleft its home base at Yokosuka, southwest of Tokyo, today.
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The Japanese guided missle destroyer Kirishima leaves its home port of Yokosuka, south of Tokyo.
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The destroyer, with a crew of about 250, is scheduled to arrive in the Indian Ocean in about three weeks to replace one of three Japanese naval vessels deployed in the area.
Domestic critics say the move could violate Japan's pacifist constitution and its self-imposed ban on "collective self-defence", or aiding allies when they are attacked.
Some demonstrators launched small boats in a futile attempt to block the destroyer's departure.
Japan, keen to avoid a rerun of its diplomatic humiliation when it failed to send even token troops for the 1991 Gulf War, last year passed a law enabling the country to deploy naval ships to support the US-led war in Afghanistan - its first military dispatch into a war since World War Two.
Diplomatic analysts said a possible US-led attack on Iraq was clearly on Tokyo's mind in its decision to send the Aegis warship. The decision came after intense, if informal, pressure from Washington.
Japanese Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi will meet US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld later today in Washington to discuss security issues including Iraq.