A record 29.9 percent of Japanese say they want the Self-Defense Forces' capabilities boosted, a government survey said.

The figure was up 5.1 percentage points from a survey three years ago, and almost twice the 2009 figure, after which SDF personnel were involved in search-and-rescue operations in the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Despite the record-high, a majority of respondents — 59.2 percent — said the SDF's capabilities can be kept at their current level, the Cabinet Office survey said Saturday.