Seven consecutive World Cups, 1998–2022; 2026 will be Japan's eighth in a row. No appearances before 1998.
The creative spine of the side — a La Masia graduate (b. 2001) whose dribbling and key passes carry Japan's attack. With Mitoma sidelined, more falls on his boots than ever.
Three-time World Cup squad member and the metronome of Japan's golden mid-2000s midfield.
Japan's original goal machine; top scorer at the 1968 Olympics, where Japan took bronze.
⚠ The most-used eleven in recent matches under Hajime Moriyasu (June 2026) — a snapshot of recent form, never a forecast.
| PLAYER | POS | ERA | CAPS | GLS | FILE NOTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kunishige Kamamoto #11 | FW | 1964–1977 | 76 | 75 | The all-time top scorer, from an age when Japan were minnows. Bronze and the Golden Boot at the 1968 Olympics. |
| Kazuyoshi Miura #11 | FW | 1990–2000 | 89 | 55 | King Kazu. Played professionally into his fifties; missed France '98 by a cruel cut and never made a World Cup. |
| Hidetoshi Nakata #7 | AM | 1997–2006 | 77 | 11 | The face of Japan's arrival — three World Cups, a Serie A title, and a retirement at 29 that stunned a nation. |
| Yasuhito Endō #7 | MF | 2002–2015 | 152 | 15 | Record caps. A free-kick artist who quarterbacked Japan's best-ever generation. |
| Shinji Okazaki #9 | FW | 2008–2019 | 119 | 50 | Tireless, selfless, and a Premier League champion with Leicester's 5,000-1 miracle. |
| Keisuke Honda #4 | AM | 2008–2018 | 98 | 37 | Big-game Honda — scored at three straight World Cups and never met a free-kick he didn't fancy. |
| Shinji Kagawa #10 | AM | 2008–2019 | 97 | 31 | A Bundesliga double-winner and Manchester United man; Japanese football at its most elegant. |
| Maya Yoshida #22 | CB | 2010–2022 | 125 | 12 | The captain who anchored the back line across three World Cups and a decade in England. |
| Yuto Nagatomo #5 | LB | 2008– | 142 | 4 | Indestructible. In 2026 he becomes the first Japanese player named to five World Cups. |
| Masami Ihara #4 | CB | 1988–1999 | 122 | 5 | Asia's defender of the decade in the '90s — the rock of the side that finally reached a World Cup. |
Asia's most reliable World Cup traveller: seven tournaments on the trot, four Asian crowns, and a habit of mugging European giants — Germany and Spain both fell in 2022. The round of 16 has become a glass ceiling Japan keep cracking but never breaking. A side the Almanac files under 'dangerous, and overdue'.