Cerezo Osaka midfielder Hiroaki Morishima returned to the Japan national setup for the first time since last October's Asian Cup as Japan manager Philippe Troussier announced his 23-member squad Sunday for the upcoming Confederations Cup at the Japan Football Association's headquarters in Tokyo.

Midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata has been called up and the French manager said he would like to keep the Roma player after the preliminary-round games if Japan advances to the semifinals.

Yokohama F. Marinos midfielder/defender Yasuhiro Hato and Sanfrecce Hiroshima defender Kenichi Uemura, both of whom earned their first caps in the 1-0 loss against Spain last month, have retained their places along with Shimizu S-Pulse midfielder Kazuyuki Toda -- who had to sit out the Spain game due to stomach problems -- and Jubilo forward Masashi Nakayama.

Joining them are Urawa Reds midfielder Shinji Ono, Tokyo Verdy midfielder Atsuhiro Miura and Kashima Antlers forward Atsushi Yanagisawa, returning for the first time since the 5-0 drubbing by France in March.

"We played well as a team tactically against Spain, but on the other hand, we couldn't make a smooth transition from defense to offense as our players don't have good experience individually. Now it's time to do that in the upcoming Confederations Cup," Troussier said.

He continued: "I look at our performance against Spain extremely positively and, based on that, I can start reconstructing our team."

Japan will play Canada on May 31 and Cameroon on June 2, both at Niigata Big Swan Stadium. It will then meet Brazil on June 4 at Kashima Stadium.

The semifinals are slated for June 7 in Yokohama and Suwon, and the final will be staged at Yokohama June 10.

Below is the squad list.

Goalkeepers: Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, F. Marinos; Seigo Narazaki, Grampus; Ryota Tsuzuji, Gamba.

Defenders: Toshihiro Hattori, Jubilo; Kenichi Uemura, Sanfrecce; Ryuzo Morioka, S-Pulse; Yasuhiro Hato, F. Marinos; Naoki Matsuda, F. Marinos; Yuji Nakazawa, Verdy; Koji Nakata, Antlers.

Midfielders: Hiroaki Morishima, Cerezo; Atsuhiro Miura, Verdy; Teruyoshi Ito, S-Pulse; Daisuke Oku, Jubilo; Hidetoshi Nakata, AS Roma; Kazuyuki Toda, S-Pulse; Tomokazu Myojin, Reysol; Junichi Inamoto, Gamba; Shinji Ono, Reds.

Forwards: Masashi Nakayama, Jubilo; Akinori Nishizawa, Espanyol; Atsushi Yanagisawa, Antlers; Naohiro Takahara, Jubilo.

Manager: Philippe Troussier.