Japan "stands in the front row" when it comes to friends for Australia and the two countries have never been more strategically aligned, Richard Marles said.

"And so the partnership between our two countries is now being elevated to an unprecedented level," he said in an address to the Sasakawa Peace Foundation on Friday.

He did not give a timeframe for Japan bring brought into the AUKUS advanced capabilities pact.

"AUKUS is a capability and technology partnership; one which we hope will form part of a broader network Australia seeks to build, in which Japan is central," he said

"My intent is to grow defence industry integration with Japan: bilaterally, through our trilateral mechanisms with the United States, and, when ready, via our advanced capabilities work in AUKUS as well."

The driving force behind the change to Japan ties was the scale of China's military build-up in the Indo-Pacific that was occurring without transparency, he said.

He was pleased China was open to reactivating long-standing defence talks with Australia during meetings in Cambodia last month, but said the way forward was not obvious.

Australia would continue to place its primary focus on diplomacy, economic openness and rules-based building, he said.

"We are also resolved to have the capability that contributes to a sustainable balance of military power, so that no country judges the benefits of conflict might outweigh the risks."

Strengthening Japan and Australia's partnership will be key to defence and security for the region and the world, he said. "It can be - we need it to be - the ballast of East Asia," he said.

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The expanding defence ties join existing economic security links between the two countries in supply chains, critical minerals, rare earths, critical infrastructure protection and their energy partnership.

The Deputy Prime Minister is on a visit to Japan with Foreign Minister Penny Wong for ministerial meetings with their Japanese counterparts.

He talked up the investments both countries were making in stabilising "great power competition", such as providing support to Ukraine's defence.

Last month Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio said his country urgently needed to strength its military capabilities amid rising tensions and military build-up in the East and South China Seas.

The country has offered to host Australia's nuclear submarines once they are constructed.

Japan was once the frontrunner for a $50 billion deal to build a conventional submarine fleet to replace the Collins fleet.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott promised Shinzo Abe that contract would go to Japan and that the ships could be built there.

But after Mr Abbott lost a leadership contest to Malcolm Turnbull, his successor instead offered it to France in exchange for promises that the majority of construction would take place in Australia. The relationship between Australia and Japan suffered as a result.

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