The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) fired a single "Type-88" missile towards Pacific coastal waters from a training ground in the northern island of Hokkaido on Tuesday.

The Japanese military usually conducts its surface-to-ship missile drills at bases in the United States, but those training sessions are costly with the number of personnel who can participate often limited.

"Domestic live-fire exercises like this one provide training opportunities for more troops," top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told a regular press conference Wednesday.

Such drills are "extremely important for us to maintain and improve the capability to defend islands and other areas, given the current severe security environment", he said.

He stressed that the exercise was not aimed at any specific nation, but Japan has previously called neighbouring China its greatest security challenge as Beijing builds up military capacity in the region.

The relative weakness of the Japanese yen has also inflated the cost of using American facilities for training, Japanese media reports said.

Japan is in a multi-year process of increasing its defence spending to the NATO standard of roughly two percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

It is also bolstering its military alliance with Washington, moving to make US and Japanese forces more nimble in response to threats such as a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.