TOKYO : Japan voted Friday to return to the US-led "war on terror" after a two-month gap as the government took the drastic step of overriding a rejection in parliament for the first time in the modern era.

Embattled Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is expected to win praise from Western nations for restarting the mission, but analysts said he risked a domestic backlash by ramming the controversial legislation through parliament.

The opposition, which won control of one house of parliament last year, in November forced an end to the naval mission, under which Japan provided fuel in the Indian Ocean to coalition forces operating in Afghanistan.

The opposition-led Upper House voted down legislation to restart the mission on Friday, the last day it had to take action on the bill.

But the move meant the bill returned to the Lower House, where Fukuda's coalition still enjoys an overwhelming majority.

The more powerful chamber immediately voted largely along party lines, 340-133, to approve the bill.

The disputed mission, which was a factor in the resignation of Fukuda's predecessor, is likely to resume as early as next month.

Fukuda argued that the mission was vital to show Japan's contributions to international security and had promised US President George W Bush in November to work to restore it.

"The refuelling operation contributes to the safety of sea lanes in the Indian Ocean. It contributes to our national interest as we depend on oil from the Middle East," said Kenji Kosaka, a lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

The opposition countered that Japan, which has been officially pacifist since World War II, should not take part in "American wars".

The Upper House passed Friday an alternative bill calling for more civilian support to rebuild Afghanistan.

"The Japanese public don't want the refuelling mission to resume," opposition lawmaker Hiroe Makiyama said.

"If the prime minister really wants to enact the bill, he should seek voters' response" through an election, she said.

Japan's 1947 constitution allows the Lower House to approve a bill in a second vote by a two-thirds majority even after the upper house rejects it.

According to a parliamentary spokeswoman, the provision has been used only once before - for a law regulating motor boat racing in 1951, a year before Japan regained its sovereignty following the US occupation.

"It would be unreasonable to forbid something that is allowed under the constitution," said Bunmei Ibuki, secretary general of the LDP.

But analysts said the drastic move proved risky for the LDP, which has been in power for all but 10 months since the conservative party was founded in 1955.

Fukuda is struggling to reverse sliding poll numbers following a raft of scandals.

He took over in September after his predecessor, Shinzo Abe, quit following an election defeat and his failure to renew the Afghan mission.

"The fact that the government had to resort to the last measure shows the prime minister failed to engage the opposition," said Tetsuro Kato, political science professor at Hitotsubashi University.

"Mr Abe resigned under the excuse that he could not renew the mission," he said. "His (Fukuda) cabinet's support rate could decline further."

But Takehiko Yamamoto, international politics professor at Waseda University, predicted the public's divisions over the mission would soon ease.

"Once a decision is made, Japanese people tend to just accept it," he said. - AFP/ch