Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today began a tour of Europe in search of tighter ties with Nato and closer co-operation on North Korea's nuclear threat.
Mr Abe, who has pledged to revise Japan's pacifist constitution and adopt a more aggressive diplomacy, is set to meet British, German, French, European Union and Nato leaders before heading for an East Asia leaders summit in the Philippines.
"I would like to show them Japan's will to actively contribute to the world," Mr Abe - who took office last September - said before departing.
Mr Abe will be seeking European support for the tough line Washington and Tokyo are taking towards North Korea after its missile and nuclear tests last year, and backing for efforts to resolve a dispute over Japanese abducted decades ago by Pyongyang to help train spies in Japanese language and culture.
In a speech at Nato headquarters in Brussels, Mr Abe will express Japan's desire to play a bigger role in areas such as peace-keeping, post-conflict reconstruction assistance and disaster relief.
Close US ally Japan has already stretched the limits of its post-World War Two constitution, which bans the maintenance of a military but been interpreted to allow forces for self defence.