Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Wednesday he hoped to visit Iraq to lift the morale of Japanese troops he is sending to help rebuild the country.
"If it's possible, I would like to visit where the self-defence Force (military) personnel will be playing an active role, to cheer them up," Koizumi said in an interview with Japanese media.
He declined to say when his visit might take place.
US President George W. Bush went to Iraq in November to share a Thanksgiving meal with US troops.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar made a lightning trip in December, while British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende made surprise visits earlier this month.
A small Japanese army team is expected to leave around January 16 for Samawa in south-eastern Iraq and the Japanese contingent could eventually number 1,000 personnel on a mission to provide humanitarian aid and help rebuild the country.
Koizumi promised the United States, Japan's security ally, he would send the non-combat mission despite public fears about dispatching troops to what many at home view as a war zone.
Critics say the mission violates Japan's post-war pacifist constitution.
No member of Japan's military has fired a shot in combat or been killed in an overseas mission since World War Two, although Japanese forces have taken part in United Nations peacekeeping operations since a 1992 law made that possible.
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