TOKYO, 27 July 2003 — Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi vowed yesterday to harness public support for the controversial decision to send Japanese troops to Iraq approved in a parliamentary session choked by dissent.

The upper house of Parliament voted in the early hours yesterday to approve the deployment of troops to Iraq in what will be the first dispatch since World War II of Japanese military personnel to a country where fighting is continuing.

Tokyo reportedly plans the 1,000-strong deployment in November.

Voting was delayed for hours by stalling tactics from the opposition parties — including an unsuccessful no confidence motion in Koizumi — who said deploying troops to Iraq would contravene Japan’s pacifist constitution. Yelling and scrambling opposition MPs surrounded the upper house committee chairman dealing with the Iraq motion but were unable to stop the passage of the bill by the committee and a later plenary session.

Shortly after the bill’s passage, Koizumi told reporters he believed he would be able to “gain people’s understanding in the days ahead.”

“When they look back in the future, they will think the legislation was good for the country,” Jiji Press news agency quoted the prime minister as saying.

A poll in the liberal daily Asahi Shimbun showed Tuesday that 55 percent of Japanese opposed sending troops to Iraq, compared to 33 percent who support it.

Koizumi called passage of the bill significant for Japan, which would help in the reconstruction of Iraq “under our country’s independent judgment,” and vowed to ensure the safety of Self-Defense Force (SDF) personnel involved.

Troops will only be sent to Iraq once a investigative mission returns with a report on local conditions and outlines careful preparations, he added in a statement.

Japanese moves to enhance its military roles have alarmed Asian neighbors who fell victim to the imperial army’s aggression and colonization before and during World War II.

China yesterday urged Tokyo to follow the path of peaceful development.

“Japan’s adherence to the defense-only policy conforms with its own interests,” state-run Xinhua news agency said, citing Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan.

The Asahi released an editorial yesterday warning against the possibility of leaving “roots of disaster in the future.”

“What is important is not how we can please the United States but how we can help the Iraqi people,” it said, suggesting the troop deployment be postponed until Japan receives a request from a government by Iraqi people.

The conservative Sankei Shimbun hailed the legislation as “a new step in (Japan’s) international contribution,” but criticized parliamentary deliberations as “half-baked.”

“The prime minister needs to explain more thoroughly the cause of sending the SDF,” the Sankei said.

Nato Kan, leader of the largest opposition group, the Democratic Party of Japan, said the military mission “would lead the country in the wrong direction.”