The Self-Defense Forces have been given the green light to train for new duties added under new security legislation last year that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cast as a way for Japan to play a bigger role in peace-building.

Defense Minister Tomomi Inada on Wednesday said the next rotation of troops to South Sudan will on Thursday be training for kaketsuke keigo, or coming to the aid of other nations' peacekeeping troops and civilians under fire.

The 9th Division of the SDF's North Eastern Army, based in Aomori, is scheduled to head there in November, swapping out the unit currently deployed, the engineering unit of 350 Ground Self-Defense Force personnel. The troops serve as part of the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS).