Japan decides to extend troop deployment in Iraq
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By Michiyo Ishida, Channel NewsAsia&#39;s Japan bureau chief. Japanese troops are in Iraq mainly to help in the country&#39;s reconstruction but the mission is also seen as a signal that Tokyo wants a larger role in world affairs.
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Japan has asked the British army to help protect its troops in southern Iraq after Dutch soldiers withdraw from the area in March next year, a Japanese newspaper says.
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Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's cabinet agreed Thursday to extend the deployment of Japan's 600 non-combat troops in Iraq for up to one year despite widespread public opposition and condemnations by political opponents.
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TOKYO - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi vowed on Sunday that Japanese troops would continue their domestically unpopular mission in Iraq after Islamic militants demanding a pullout killed a 24-year-old Japanese tourist.
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Japan is to tighten security at its military camp in Iraq after a rocket shell landed inside the facility, the latest sign of a worsening security situation that is fuelling demands in Japan that the troops be pulled out.
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Japan today refused to withdraw its troops from Iraq despite demands by Iraqi militants who have taken a Japanese civilian hostage and threatened to behead him unless the soldiers left.
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Japan&#39;s armed forces must contribute to global peace to secure safety at home, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Sunday amid signs his government will extend an unpopular military deployment in Iraq.
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Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi  reiterated on Wednesday that he wanted at some point to visit  Iraq, where Japanese troops are engaged in reconstruction work.
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TOKYO : Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has vowed not to pull out its troops in Iraq, despite reports that another of its national has been taken hostage.
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The current one-year deployment of Japanese troops in Iraq will be extended by another year if the security situation there does not deteriorate further, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Tuesday.
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Japan should withdraw its troops from Samawa in southern Iraq. Newspaper polls have shown that more than. &quot;Reconstruction is still under way, so we must continue the support,&quot; NHK quoted Ohno as saying.
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TOKYO -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet agreed yesterday to extend the deployment of Japan's 600 noncombat troops in Iraq for up to a year despite widespread public opposition and condemnations from political opponents.
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Japan will keep its troops in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said a day after insurgents fired explosives into a dining tent at a US Army base in the northern city of Mosul.
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The government officially decided at an extraordinary Cabinet meeting Thursday afternoon to extend by another year its deployment of Self-Defense Forces (SDF) personnel to provide humanitarian assistance to Iraq.
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Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi indicated Friday that extending the Self-Defense Forces&#39; mission in Iraq was almost a done deal.
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Japanese lawmakers on Wednesday approved a two-year extension of the country's air force transport mission in Iraq, despite criticism of Tokyo's involvement in the increasingly unpopular war.
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Japan&#39;s decision to extend its troops&#39; mandate in Iraq will mean they stay in the country for at least another year. But the move, seen as part of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi&#39;s efforts