Japan is striving to play a prominent role in the tsunami crisis, pledging US$500 million and deploying the officially pacifist country's largest-ever disaster relief contingent.

Ono, director general of the Defence Agency, will leave Tokyo on Saturday for Jakarta to hold talks with Indonesian Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono the following day, an agency spokesman said.

"Our director general will hear from the Indonesian side about the devastation of the country and listen to what they expect from Japan, including the dispatch of the Self-Defence Forces," the official said, referring to Japan's military.

Ono will then fly to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to discuss joint efforts to help victims of the Dec 26 disaster, which killed more than 146,000 people.

Japan has said it is sending 700 to 800 defence personnel to tsunami-hit countries, far exceeding its deployment of 400 troops to Turkey in the aftermath of a major earthquake in 1999.

Ono will move to Seoul on Wednesday to meet South Korea's defence chief, with talks expected to include the nuclear standoff with North Korea.