World Cup striker Yoshito Okubo was among 28 J. League players called up for Japan's training camp next week, the Japan Football Association announced on Thursday.
The 32-year-old Okubo, the J. League's top scorer the last two seasons, returned to the fold for the first time since last summer's World Cup for the two-day session to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday in Chiba Prefecture.
The camp is only for players based in Japan.
Gamba Osaka's Takashi Usami, who leads the league this season with nine goals in nine games, is in the mix as well as FC Tokyo's Yoshinori Muto and Yohei Toyoda of Sagan Tosu, who trail Usami with eight goals each.
Coach Vahid Halilhodzic also issued seven first-time call-ups, including a pair of 20-year-olds in Sanfrecce Hiroshima livewire Takuma Asano and Vissel Kobe defender Takuya Iwanami.
Goalkeepers: Masaaki Higashiguchi (Gamba Osaka), Shusaku Nishikawa (Urawa Reds), Yuji Rokutan (Vegalta Sendai), Shuichi Gonda (FC Tokyo)
Defenders: Hiroki Mizumoto (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Daiki Niwa (Gamba), Tomoaki Makino (Urawa), Masato Morishige (Tokyo), Kosuke Ota (Tokyo), Hiroki Fujiharu (Gamba), Tsukasa Shiotani (Hiroshima), Gen Shoji (Kashima Antlers), Takuya Iwanami (Vissel Kobe), Naomichi Ueda (Kashima)
Midfielders: Yasuyuki Konno (Gamba), Yasushi Endo (Kashima), Hotaru Yamaguchi (Cerezo Osaka), Takuji Yonemoto (Tokyo), Shogo Taniguchi (Kawasaki Frontale), Gaku Shibasaki (Kashima)
Forwards: Yoshito Okubo (Kawasaki), Yohei Toyoda (Sagan Tosu), Kensuke Nagai (Nagoya Grampus), Kengo Kawamata (Nagoya), Takashi Usami (Gamba), Yoshinori Muto (Tokyo), Kenyu Sugimoto (Kawasaki), Takuma Asano (Hiroshima)