The U.S. naval hospital ship Mercy arrived Saturday in Japan, which is considering building such floating hospitals to provide medical care after disasters like the 2011 catastrophe.
The 272-meter-long ship is visiting Japan for the first time at the invitation of a group of ruling bloc lawmakers who are calling for Japan to build hospital ships of its own.
The Mercy can carry more than 1,000 personnel and has 80 intensive care beds.
Hospital functions were paralyzed in many areas devastated by the massive earthquake, followed by huge tsunami, that affected a wide swath of northeastern Japan in March 2011.
