That vessel will be joined by another ship from Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force (MSDF) before the end of the year.

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The two warships will be authorised to use force to defend Japanese merchant vessels, Kyodo News reported, but Tokyo has made it clear that the MSDF ships will not be part of a naval coalition force that Washington is attempting to put together as tensions grow with Iran.

“Japan wants to show that it is willing to put ships in the water to protect its own interests and it also wants to placate Washington to show that it is not a free rider,” said Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.

“At the same time, Tokyo does not want to be seen to be choosing sides against Iran, as it has for many years been trying to cultivate good ties with Tehran. It also has to consider domestic opinion, with a lot of people worried that Japan could get dragged into a war in the Middle East, and revising the constitution still unpopular.”

Ra Mason, a specialist in Japanese foreign policy at the University of East Anglia, in a commentary published last month said Abe wanted recognition of the Japan Self-Defence Forces written into the constitution.

“Although land, air and sea forces are supposedly prohibited under Article 9, Japan currently boasts one of the best-equipped militaries on the planet, not to mention a coastguard that could confidently take on many navies,” he wrote.

Kyohei Yamada, an associate professor of international relations at the International University of Japan, agrees that Abe still harbours ambitions of altering sections of a constitution that nationalists believe was imposed upon a defeated Japan by the vengeful Allies, but this deployment will not help him.

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“Yes, he’s committed to constitutional change, but I don’t think he can use this situation as a tool to achieve that,” he said. “Rewriting the constitution involves so many elements, including the overwhelming support of both houses of the Diet, that I just don’t think it can be done.”

Yamada also suggested the reason Abe has not pushed ahead on the matter more forcefully is because he realises he lacks sufficient support. “Once he fails, it will be very difficult to put the issue back on the agenda.”

In the nearly seven years since Abe took power, Japan has bulked up its defences, with the threat of China’s growing influence and nuclear-armed North Korea being the biggest drivers.

Yet there are other indicators that Abe is incrementally expanding the scope and presence of Japan’s military.

The Ministry of Defence has requested a record 5.32 trillion yen (US$50.5 billion) defence budget for the next financial year. If approved, this would be the eighth consecutive year-on-year increase in Tokyo’s defence spending.

Japan also wants to play a bigger role in the Indo-Pacific, and the US has been tacitly supporting this more proactive role. Bloomberg this week reported comments from an unnamed senior US military officer, who cited China as a particular risk in the region and said Japan should rethink its rejection of offensive weapons.

“In an attempt to circumvent the post-war mechanism, Japan has adjusted its military and security policies and increased input accordingly, thus becoming more outward-looking in its military endeavours,” the paper said, according to Japanese media.

China also asserted its sovereignty over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, but in less strident terms than the last defence white paper in 2012.

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Abe needs the support of two-thirds of both chambers of the Diet to force through revisions to the constitution, with the latest opinion polls indicating that he is well short of that figure. In an October 6 poll, 37.3 per cent of respondents said they supported plans to change the constitution, while 48.4 per cent were against revisions.

In the past week though, there appears to have been very little public discussion of the dispatch of forces overseas, though this in itself is not new.

The SDF, which has around 240,000 personnel across its three arms, has in the past been dispatched to Afghanistan and Iraq to serve in support and reprovisioning roles for allied nations, as well as taking part in post-war reconstruction efforts.

On Monday, the left-leaning Asahi newspaper asked in an editorial if there was a legal basis for the warships’ presence in the Middle East, pointing out that the government claims the vessels are solely to be engaged in surveying and gathering intelligence.

That narrow definition of their responsibilities enables the mission to come under the law used to establish the Ministry of Defence and did not therefore require the deployment to be debated in the Japanese parliament, thereby avoiding questions over Abe’s intentions towards the constitution.

Kingston from Temple University suggested the timing of the government’s announcement that the warships would be deployed was “fortuitous”, as it coincided with the unexpectedly good run of the Japanese national rugby team in the ongoing Rugby World Cup and official enthronement ceremonies this week for Emperor Naruhito.