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++VIDEO AS INCOMING++ Virginia Camp in Kuwait near border with Iraq 1. Bus arriving 2. US soldiers shaking hands with Japanese soldiers 3. Japanese soldiers inside tent 4. US soldier talking to media 5. SOUNDBITE (English) Colonel Masahisa Sato, Head of Forward Party Self Defence Forces: "Our mission in Iraq (is to) support Iraqi people by conducting with such things as helping with water purification and water supply and medical support and construction support. (Q: Do orders allow you to open fire in self defence or in defence of other coalition forces?) It's a very tough question. We are allowed to use force. You can use a weapon for just self defence. (Q: Do you fear casualties in Iraq because there are a lot of attacks all over the country and is there a policy to pull out of Iraq especially if there are mounting casualties?) It depends. It is our government decision at the time." 6. Japanese soldier answering question by media 7. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Colonel Masahisa Sato, Head of Forward Party Self Defence Forces: "This is a historic moment for the ground self defence forces since they are taking to the stage of international reconstruction efforts and we feel a heavy responsibility as the advance party to fulfil our duties." 8. Japanese soldier walking towards bus STORYLINE: An advance team of Japanese soldiers arrived on Saturday in Kuwait for training at a US military base before they cross overland to Iraq on a humanitarian mission that puts the nation's soldiers in a combat zone for the first time since World War II. Around 30 soldiers, dressed in civilian clothes and carrying military duffel bags, arrived on a commercial flight from Tokyo to prepare for a mission that has run into strong opposition at home. They filed into a waiting, chartered bus, which two US military four-wheel-drive vehicles escorted out of the airport and off to Virginia Camp, an American base in the Kuwaiti desert near the Iraqi border. Their mission, according to the Head of Forward Party Self Defence Forces, Colonel Masahisa Sato, is to help rebuild the infrastructure, focusing on water supplies, water purification, medical and construction support. They will carry arms for self-protection, but their role will be noncombattant. When fully in place by March, there will be a 1,000-strong Japanese force in Iraq. Col. Masahisa Sato, commander of the troops, told media at the camp that the deployment was a "historic moment" for his country's self-defence army. Sato said, "As the forward party, we feel an immense responsibility to fulfill our role." Many Japanese oppose sending troops into Iraq, and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's argument that Japan is fulfilling its international commitments hasn't silenced critics. Japan's defeat in World War II and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are considered horrifying reminders of the devastation of war, most of the population are opposed to the mission. The prime minister is also building momentum for a historic rethinking of the constraints placed on the military by the war-renouncing 1947 constitution, written by the United States. His party is drafting a revision of the document, which has never been amended. Although Japanese lawmakers approved noncombat duties with UN peacekeeping operations a decade ago, Japanese peacekeepers never before have been sent into situations as dangerous as post-war Iraq, where guerrilla attacks are a daily occurrence. No Japanese peacekeeper has ever been killed. The rest of the Japanese force could start leaving Japan this month. After training in Kuwait, Japanese soldiers could start arriving in Iraq in early February. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/bde4798257a9cba715be094eb7cebbe2 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork