The Ground Self-Defense Force will end its two-year peacekeeping mission in East Timor on Thursday, after providing support in such reconstruction efforts as repairing school playgrounds.
Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba issued an order Tuesday for the roughly 400 troops currently engaged in the operation to return home.
Japan sent troops in four rotations after the Cabinet endorsed troop participation in the U.N. Mission of Support in East Timor, or UNMISET, in February 2002. East Timor gained independence from Indonesia in May that year.
Vice Defense Agency chief Yasukazu Hamada is expected to visit East Timor to attend a ceremony to mark the official end of Japan's mission, as well as a gathering to mark the transfer of construction machinery and prefab housing to the East Timorese government.
Although the U.N. mission will continue for six more months, the tasks assigned to the Japanese troops have almost been completed, a Defense Agency official said.