The government Tuesday adopted an action plan to send ground troops to South Sudan to join U.N. peacekeeping operations and help build infrastructure in the recently founded African country.
The plan is in line with a policy approved early last month to dispatch Ground Self-Defense Force engineers next year to help build roads and bridges, which are badly needed in South Sudan.
The region had long been battered by civil strife until it gained independence in July.
GSDF personnel will operate there over a five-year period.
They will be involved with work to construct roads and bridges in the nation's capital, Juba, and its vicinity.
To prepare for the arrival of the engineering unit, an advance party comprising a few dozen Self-Defense Force members will be sent in mid-January.
Between February and March, a team comprising roughly 210 personnel will be dispatched, followed by a second team of about 330 planned for June.
The government decided on the dispatch after assessing security information gathered by survey teams sent to South Sudan in September and October. The United Nations had asked for Japan's participation in the South Sudan effort.
There are concerns about the safety of SDF personnel in the country in the wake of continued violence between rebels and government forces, but officials in Tokyo say the area where the GSDF will operate is stable.