In Afghanistan, Hatoyama has proposed new, non-military support for Kabul, such as job training for former Taliban soldiers.

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The naval mission has supported US and other NATO forces in the Afghan conflict with refueling and logistical support, but it has drawn scorn at home from left-leaning politicians now in Hatoyama's ruling coalition.

The change of power in Tokyo has also revived debate on another long-simmering issue, the 47,000-strong US military presence in Japan that started with the superpower's post-World War II occupation.

A flashpoint has been the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Base, located in a crowded urban area, where residents have long complained of aircraft noise, the danger of accidents, and occasional frictions with service personnel.

Under a 2006 agreement which Japan, under a conservative government, struck with the United States's former George W. Bush administration, the base would be closed but replaced with a coastal facility to be built by 2014.

Hatoyama has in the past said he wants the replacement facility to be built outside Okinawa or even outside Japan, a proposal also favoured by two minor parties whose support he needs in the upper house of the Diet legislature.