National team manager Alberto Zaccheroni has urged his players to stand up and be counted and clinch World Cup qualification on home soil for the first time against Australia on Tuesday night.
Japan needs just a point from its Group B encounter with the Socceroos to book its place at a fifth straight World Cup, with Saitama Stadium promising to be a more welcoming venue than the Malaysian, Thai and Uzbek arenas that have witnessed qualification in the past.
Japan still has another opportunity to seal the deal against Iraq in Doha on June 11 should Australia take all three points on Tuesday, but Zaccheroni is determined to wrap things up quickly after blowing one chance already in March's 2-1 defeat to Jordan.