Two Maritime Self-Defense Force ships named Ashigara and Samidare left the Sasebo naval base in Nagasaki today.
And they are due to rendezvous with the USS Carl Vinson-led group, as Japan joins forces to conduct military drills.
The operation comes following fresh ballistic missile tests in North Korea, which will mark the 85th anniversary of the foundation of its military next week.
Washington sent the naval group from Singapore toward North Korea earlier this month - and US President Donald Trump claimed an "armada" has been sent to tackle the North Korean threat.
He said: “We are sending an armada, very powerful. We have submarines, very powerful – far more powerful than the aircraft carrier.”
But little is known about the joint naval exercises, although the event was announced by the Japanese Navy earlier last week.
REVEALED: THE US MAY BE VULNERABLE TO MISSILE ATTACK FROM NORTH KOREA
One military source said: “Japan wants to dispatch several destroyers as the ‘Carl Vinson’ enters the East China Sea.”
They added drills would involved helicopter landings on both American and Japanese ships, along with communications training.
The strike group will operate in the region under the operational control of the 3rd Fleet as part of the 3rd Fleet Forward initiative, according to the US Navy.
But US military has been forced to downplay rumours the “armada” was heading to Australia instead of the Korean peninsula.
Defense Secretary James Mattis vaguely said: “The Vinson, as I’ve said on the record, was operating up and down the western Pacific.
“And that is, we’re shifting her, instead of continuing one direction as she pulled out of Singapore she’s going to continue part of our cruise down in that region, but she was on her way up to Korea.”
The latest rise in already high tensions come after it was reported Mr Trump might order a strike against Pyongyang in case Kim Jong-Un orders another nuclear test.
And North Korea retaliated - saying it was ready to defend itself with all means available, including weapons of mass destruction.
Then in a series of extraordinary statements, China, North Korea’s main ally, warned that the region was on the brink of an “all-out war”.
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