Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni welcomed back Shinji Kagawa on Thursday, when he named the Manchester United attacker to his 23-man squad for next week's World Cup qualifying warmup against Latvia in Kobe, the Blue Samurai's first game of 2013.
CSKA Moscow's Keisuke Honda was also picked for Wednesday's match at Home's Stadium, one of two friendlies the Asian champions have lined up ahead of their World Cup qualifier away to Jordan on March 26.
"I have picked players from Europe that are in the thick of the season and have left out some J. League players like Kengo Nakamura and Yuichi Komano, but that doesn't mean they are dropped," Zaccheroni said.