Japan placed second behind Great Britain in the men's 4x100-meter relay on Sunday, the final day of action at the IAAF Diamond League event in London.
The team of Yuki Koike, Shota Iizuka, Yoshihide Kiryu and Asuka Cambridge clocked 38.09 seconds, 0.48 behind the world champion squad which set a new meet record in the race at London Stadium and the world's fastest time this season.
Koike was chosen to lead the team out after a left leg injury forced national 100-meter champion Ryota Yamagata to withdraw shortly before the start of the Golden League event at the London 2012 Olympic stadium.
"We still have to work on our baton handoff," Koike said.
"I was a replacement (for Yamagata) this time, but I want to always be ready to run. I want to gain more experience alongside competitive runners in big races like this one," he said.
Iizuka, Kiryu and Cambridge were members of the silver medal-winning relay team at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.