Two Maritime Self-Defense Force ships arrived Tuesday in Manila for a four-day goodwill visit.
The Japanese Training Squadron, consisting of the JS Kashima and the JS Matsuyuki, arrived with more than 500 crew members and officers headed by Rear Adm. Hidetoshi Fuchinoue.
"I strongly believe that we are able to build deeper friendship and cooperation between the Philippines and Japan," Fuchinoue said in his arrival speech at the port of Manila.
Japanese Ambassador Toshinao Urabe said the Japanese Training Squadron's visit has nothing to do with the Philippines' current territorial row with China in the South China Sea, even as he reiterated that for the sake of free trade, unimpeded access to international sealanes near the Philippines is vital.
"I wouldn't link that to the territorial issue that is going right now because this visit was planned a long time ago, and it is a periodic visit," Urabe, who led the welcome ceremony for the Japanese ships, told reporters.
The MSDF has paid port calls more than 50 times since visits started in 1966, the Japanese Embassy said. The last was in 2010.
The Manila visit is the squadron's first stop on a 150-day goodwill voyage to 14 countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.