Japan will host Australia on Nov. 4, 2017, in a landmark test match, the Japan Rugby Football Union and Australian Rugby Union jointly announced Thursday.
The game, at a venue yet to be determined, will mark the first time the Wallabies and Brave Blossoms play in Japan.
"Playing experienced teams such as the Wallabies (is) always very difficult given their experience and ability but if we are to improve in time for the Rugby World Cup 2019 we need to keep challenging the best teams in the world so we can also get better," Japan coach Jamie Joseph said in a press release.
"The Wallabies provide us with a great challenge to measure how close or far away we are after one year. It is also a great opportunity for the Japanese fans to see some of the best players in the world playing at home."
Bill Pulver, ARU's chief executive officer, said the match would be an important part of Australia's preparation for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
"This test match will be an historic occasion as the Qantas Wallabies play their first test match against Japan on Japanese soil, less than two years before Japan hosts its first ever Rugby World Cup in 2019," he said.
"Japan's win against South Africa at the 2015 Rugby World Cup is legendary and the rise of Japanese rugby has continued with the inclusion of the Sunwolves in the Super Rugby competition this year.
"This match will give the Wallabies a taste of playing test rugby in Japanese conditions ahead of the World Cup and will springboard their tour of Europe and the United Kingdom next year."
The two sides have met four times previously — in a two-test series in Brisbane and Sydney in 1975, at Rugby World Cup 1987 in Sydney and at RWC 2007 in Lyon, France — with the Wallabies yet to taste defeat.
The last time the two sides met, the Wallabies won 91-3 after then-Japan coach John Kirwan opted to play a second-string side in order to rest his top players for games he believed were more winnable.
The Australia side that day contained George Smith, Wycliff Palu, Hugh McMeniman, Berrick Barnes and Mark Gerrard, who are all currently playing in the Top League, as well as Chris Latham, who is coaching in Top West.
The Japan side contained two players — Hitoshi Ono and Yuki Yatomi — recently named in the Sunwolves squad for 2017.
Hartley out six weeks
London AP
England captain Dylan Hartley will be available for the start of the team's Six Nations title defense after his ban for striking an opponent while on club duty for Northampton was limited to six weeks by a disciplinary panel on Wednesday.
The hooker was sent off for swinging his arm into the head of Ireland flanker Sean O'Brien during a European Champions Cup match against Leinster on Friday. It was the third red card of Hartley's career.
Hartley is free to return to action on Jan. 23. England's first game in the Six Nations is against France on Feb. 4.