It will be a new era for Japan rugby when the Brave Blossoms kick off their autumn test series against Argentina on Nov. 5 at Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground.

New head coach Jamie Joseph named a 32-man squad Friday that contains 17 uncapped players and just 12 survivors from last year's Rugby World Cup.

A rash of injuries and self-imposed withdrawals have forced Joseph and his assistant Tony Brown to look well beyond the men who shocked the rugby world with their performances last year in England.

"There are some players who are injured, who would have made the team," said Joseph, referring to the likes of prop Keita Inagaki and lock Hitoshi Ono, who remains stranded on 98 test caps.

"There are some players who have not been selected on current form and there are some who have made themselves unavailable, which is disappointing. But the focus is on who has been selected. Those are the ones I want to talk about."

While Joseph didn't want to elaborate on those missing from the team list, Japan director of rugby Masahiro Kunda admitted a number of players had failed to recover, both physically and mentally, from last year's efforts.

"We picked the 32 players that most wanted to play for Japan at the current time," Kunda added.

In their absence come in a number of fresh faces ranging from 22-year-old No. 8 Shuhei Matsuhashi, who has been in superb form for Ricoh Black Rams, to Yamaha prop Satoshi Nakatani, who could win his first cap at the age of 35.

Shota Horie and Harumichi Tatekawa will co-captain the side that will travel to Europe following its clash with the Pumas to take on Georgia, Wales and Fiji.

"They have the right credentials," Joseph said of the pair. "They are two of our best players, have got great leadership skills already, are captains of their company teams and know what the Japan jersey stands for."

Joseph said he and Brown had used co-captains at the Highlanders and with such an inexperienced squad he felt "putting the responsibility on the shoulders of one man as captain would be far too much."

The only real problem he said would be ensuring that the leadership role doesn't have an impact on the condition or rugby form of Japan's first choice hooker and inside center.

"They want to be the best players in the world and first and foremost they have to perform for the team. That's their first responsibility. With their experience and leadership skills we hope they can balance both of these effectively for themselves and the team," Joseph said.

Yamaha's good form in the Top League is rewarded with six forwards on the squad, all of whom are uncapped, alongside scrumhalf Yuki Yatomi.

The Panasonic Wild Knights also have seven players on the squad, while the Honda Heat, currently bottom of the league, are represented courtesy of Rio Olympian Lomano Lava Lemeki.

Just six of the 18 forwards have played test matches, while five of the backs are untried at the international level.

"We've had little time to prepare but what we have had time to prepare is our attack," said Joseph. "Argentina are a very strong team but that's the last thing we need to worry about. We want a positive attacking mindset and when we get an opportunity to play and attack these guys you should see some organization, flair, real speed and skill in our game plan."

Brown said the key to a successful tour would be "to attack in a similar way to how we operate, as one. Speed, skill and space are the key words we want to use."

Japan squad

Forwards — Masataka Mikami (Toshiba Brave Lupus), Satoshi Nakatani (Yamaha Jubilo), Koki Yamamoto (Yamaha), Shota Horie (Panasonic Wild Knights), Takeshi Kizu (Kobe Kobelco Steelers), Takeshi Hino (Yamaha), Kensuke Hatakeyama (Suntory Sungoliath), Heiichiro Ito (Yamaha), Yasuo Yamaji (Canon Eagles), Kotaro Yatabe (Panasonic), Samuela Anise (Canon), Kyosuke Kajikawa (Toshiba), Amanaki Lelei Mafi (NTT Communications Shining Arcs), Yuhimaru Mimura (Yamaha), Malgene Ilaua (Toshiba), Uwe Helu (Yamaha), Shunsuke Nunomaki (Panasonic), Shuhei Matsuhashi (Ricoh Black Rams)

Backs — Fumiaki Tanaka (Panasonic), Yuki Yatomi (Yamaha), Takahiro Ogawa (Toshiba), Yu Tamura (NEC Green Rockets), Jumpei Ogura (NTT Comms), Timothy Lafaele (Coca-Cola Red Sparks), Harumichi Tatekawa (Kubota Spears), Kotaro Matsushima (Suntory), Akihito Yamada (Panasonic), Kenki Fukuoka (Panasonic), Lomano Lava Lemeki (Honda Heat), Karne Hesketh (Munakata Sanix Blues), Amanaki Lotoahea (Ricoh), Yasutaka Sasakura (Panasonic)