SAILING OFF: Japanese naval officers of the Maritime Defense Force board a destroyer in Kure in Hiroshima Prefecture on March 14, before setting off for an anti-piracy mission off Somalia in which the nation's armed forces could face combat abroad for the first time since World War II (XINHUA/AFP)

On July 17, Japan's cabinet approved the country's White Paper on Defense. The document, released annually, displays Tokyo's stance on defense. The paper has long been a hallmark of Japanese defense policy, though the latest framework offers some important departures from years past.

The 2009 white paper, not unlike the previous ones, introduces Japan's security environment in the context of other regional military powers. Equally outlined are Japan's basic defense goals and the makeup of its 240,000-strong Self Defense Forces. In addition, the document highlights the ongoing overhaul of the Japanese Ministry of Defense.

But when it comes to the biggest changes in the 2009 paper, regional and international observers would do well to take note.

Moreover, this year's publication includes significant pledges by Japan to develop military technology that can operate in space—coupled with a commitment by defense officials to support Tokyo's desire to build an ocean exploration plan.

In one chapter, the paper illustrates what it calls a comprehensive need for space exploration—underlining accelerated research regarding guaranteed security fields such as missile defense interceptors, in addition to military surveillance and early warning satellite systems.

The Ministry of Defense is cited as actively seeking equipment development and personnel training for an ocean exploration plan.

The white paper explicitly cites opportunities for Japan's military in these theaters of operation and the acknowledgment of this by senior officials—in addition to a near-guarantee that future military construction will see a push in these new directions.

The paper, meanwhile, also underlines Tokyo's self-awareness of "international responsibility" when it comes to battling piracy and terrorism off its coasts and in international waters. Having posed a grave threat to Japanese and regional security, Japanese defense officials, the document says, feel they bear an obligation to help reduce the threat of piracy.

Indeed, Japan's anti-piracy law, passed in June, coupled with its deployment of destroyers and other ships to the waters off the coast of Somalia only mirror these assertions.

These pledges are in step with a trend Japan has been following in recent decades in which it has dispatched its combat forces further from home—as opposed to using its military for purely defensive purposes.

In fact, ever since the Gulf War of 1991, Japan has eagerly deployed its Maritime Self-Defense Forces (JMSDF) overseas in a "shortcut" under the auspices of "international cooperation." Moreover, whether aiding in minesweeping operations in the Pacific, providing oil supplies to the U.S. Navy in the Indian Ocean and the Arab Sea or fighting piracy in the Gulf of Aden, Japan has been steadily abandoning its longtime posture of self-defense.