Urawa Reds and Yokohama F. Marinos took pole position after winning their first-leg matches at home in the quarterfinals of the J. League Nabisco Cup on Saturday.
Brazilian striker Washington scored four goals as Urawa edged Kawasaki Frontale in a 4-3 thriller, while Yokohama came from behind to beat Jubilo Iwata 2-1 on second-half goals from Naoki Matsuda and Tatsuhiko Kubo.
At Komaba Stadium in Saitama, Washington opened the scoring after 10 minutes and added three second-half goals, including a 74th-minute winner, to give the 2003 League Cup winners the lead ahead of the return leg next Wednesday.
At Nissan Stadium, Sho Naruoka put Iwata ahead on the stroke of halftime, but Yokohama drew level with a 49th-minute goal from Matsuda, a member of Japan's 2002 World Cup squad.
Marinos manager Takeshi Okada brought on Kubo, who missed out on a spot in the squad for the upcoming World Cup in Germany, midway through the second half and the lanky striker snatched the winner with an 89th-minute header following a corner from Takashi Hirano.
Yokohama and Iwata will meet again in the second leg Thursday.