This time a year ago, Japan grabbed headlines around the world with its triumph over South Africa at the Rugby World Cup, scoring the biggest upset in tournament history.
Coach Eddie Jones and Japan went their separate ways after the England World Cup, and in the year that followed, their fortunes have been contrasting, to say the least.
Jones took control of English rugby and led it to the Six Nations Grand Slam and a sweep of the June tests against the Wallabies, further pushing his case as possibly the world's top international coach.
Next on Jones' to-do list, he says, is dethroning the All Blacks at the 2019 World Cup in Japan, exactly three years away on Tuesday.
In an interview with Kyodo News, he said the difference between New Zealand and England is only "probably 2, 3 percent," and when asked what the chances were of defeating the two-time defending champions in three years' time, Jones answered with typical bullet-proof confidence.
"One-hundred percent," he said. "Japan's a place I love. I know a lot of people here. I want to bring a strong team that's going to win the World Cup. I don't care who we play as long as we win the World Cup. What's important is to win seven in a row."
Japan, on the other hand, has managed to waste a full year of preparation time, and didn't bring new coach Jamie Joseph on board until this month.
Japan's foray into Super Rugby, via the Sunwolves, was supposed to take the national team to the next level by giving the best Japanese players a regular dose of world-class rugby while blooding the young and the inexperienced.
But the cream of the Brave Blossoms' crop like Michael Leitch, Ayumu Goromaru and Kotaro Matsushima opted to play for other Super Rugby teams while others, like Kensuke Hatakeyama and Amanaki Lelei Mafi, went to Europe. Only a select few like the NEC Green Rockets' Kaito Shigeno managed to play their way onto the squad.
Mark Hammett's Sunwolves won once and lost 13 of their 15 games before the Kiwi packed up and went home, with his countryman and former assistant Filo Tiatia recently named as his replacement.
Jones, who was the director of rugby at the Sunwolves before he left for England, said Japan's Super Rugby program must be refocused to suit its original purpose.
"There weren't many players exposed to Super Rugby so you have to question the purpose of Super Rugby," Jones said. "If I'm struggling to think of names of young players who played, Super Rugby didn't serve its purpose.
"The whole purpose of the Sunwolves — and I was involved in the process of winning the bid — was to play the national team players plus some good foreign players so that you had a winning team. Now that didn't happen. (Japan) should be asking the question why it didn't.
"The creation of a Super Rugby team gave Japanese players an opportunity to play top-level rugby and still be in Japan. So the solution is there. You just have to make it attractive.
"The solution in Japan is very simple. You make the Super Rugby team a good team — proper coaching staff, proper training center, proper wages. Then you ask the players to make a decision. It's absolutely simple. Have a look out the window, there's no lack of money in Japan."
Jones believes the Japanese players are right in going abroad to hone their game, but using the example of soccer, he says, "You have to be good enough to start regularly. Look at the example of (Shinji) Okazaki at Leicester. He worked very hard to become a starting (team) member and he just keeps getting better and better."
Jones led Japan to the nation's historic three wins at last year's World Cup and Joseph — along with his right-hand man at the Highlanders, Tony Brown, who will come aboard later — has some extremely big shoes to fill.
Joseph makes his coaching debut on Nov. 5 at home to Argentina before hitting the road to take on Georgia, Wales and Fiji in Europe. All four teams are ranked above Japan.
How Joseph builds on Jones' legacy remains to be seen, but the Australian lamented the fact that it took the Japan Rugby Football Union a year just to get the new coach into the country.
Jones has no doubt about his successor's credentials but said the lost preparation time will only add to the burden on Joseph's shoulders, with the pressure increasing with each passing day for the Brave Blossoms, the hosts of the next World Cup.
"It just puts more pressure on Jamie. He has to pack four years of preparation into three now," Jones said.
"He's a very successful player himself, an All Black. He's a very successful Super Rugby coach and he's got all the attributes to be a very successful international coach. He had the Highlanders playing great rugby but he had Aaron Smith, Ben Smith, (Malakai) Fekitoa.
"If you had to guess the starting XV of the November tests, there are probably going to be 12 to 13 of the World Cup squad members and five, six of them will struggle to get to the next World Cup. You now only have two years to prepare for the World Cup so you have to produce many new test players in that time.
"One of the biggest issues for Japan is coping with the pressure of being the home team. I've already seen expectations from the union saying their target is to make the semifinals. That's going to put pressure on the team because to make the semifinals, you have to be a top five team in the world. That's a big jump from 12th in the world."
Jones said the state of the national team will be clear by the end of November, but it will be three more years until Japan knows how much a year of inaction has truly cost.
