Takashi Inui sent Japan into the World Cup on a bright note on Tuesday, scoring twice in a 4-2 win over Paraguay in the team's final warmup match.
Inui made up for an ugly first-half miss to score a brace after the Samurai Blue came into the second half with renewed purpose.
Japan's first win in head coach Akira Nishino's third game in charge provided some relief after a string of poor results. Set to open its World Cup campaign in Russia in one week's time, Japan, ranked 61st in the world, was coming off 2-0 losses to Ghana and Switzerland.