The first contingent of Japanese troops returned home on Thursday from Iraq, where they had completed Japan's biggest and riskiest overseas mission since World War Two.

Japanese troops escort truckloads of military equipment en route to Kuwait, Saturday morning, July 15, 2006, in Samawah, southern Iraq. Japan is in the process of withdrawing its 600 non-combat troops that were based in the province near Samawah from the country, ending Tokyo's largest military deployment in the postwar era and the first to a war zone since 1945. [AP]

 

About 170 soldiers arrived in Tokyo from Kuwait on a chartered private plane and were reunited with their families following a ceremony at the Defence Agency.

A woman cried and embraced a soldier, who appeared to be her son, while a girl smiled as her father asked: "Have you been a good girl?"

The rest of the 600-member contingent, who have all pulled out of their base in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa, will return to Japan by the end of the month, according to the Japanese military.

The mission, which began in early 2004 and aimed to provide humanitarian and reconstruction aid, symbolised Tokyo's willingness to put "boots on the ground" and won praise from Washington, its closest security ally.

"I could make an international contribution, so it was meaningful for me and for the Self-Defence Force," one returning soldier said, referring to the official name of the Japanese military.

But the dispatch was opposed by many at home including critics who said it violated Japan's pacifist constitution.

The troops completed their pullout from Iraq on July 17, after an international coalition force transferred security operations in the region to the Iraqis on July 13.