Japan fell 41-27 for its second straight defeat against the All Blacks XV on Saturday, remaining winless through two of five warmup games on home soil ahead of the 20023 Rugby World Cup in France.
Donning its new World Cup jersey and with No. 8 stalwart Kazuki Himeno captaining for the first time, Jamie Joseph's side showed fight but came up short at Kumamoto's Egao Kenko Stadium against the All Black aspirants, who beat a Japan XV 38-6 a week ago in Tokyo.
"As captain, I've been telling my team to play with passion this past week. They expressed their confidence and passion on the field," Himeno said. "The result wasn't good enough and we have to accept that, but the direction we're heading is not wrong."
Japan turned to experience by starting the likes of Shota Horie and Keita Inagaki, but trailed from the ninth minute after prop Jermaine Ainsley's powerful carry and fullback Ruben Love's slicing run set the stage for center Billy Proctor to score the opening try in combination with Jona Nareki.
The visitors scored their second try three minutes later, moments after Lee Seung Sin's penalty put Japan on the board, with fly-half Stephen Perofeta showing great footwork to run through the heart of the Japanese defense and dot down, then kick the extras.
Japan strung together phases inside the 22, but Dylan Riley knocked on near the try line before Lee's second successful penalty cut the deficit to 12-6 after 21 minutes.
The home side's first try arrived in the 25th minute after a period of pressure allowed fullback Kotaro Matsushima to find the gap and cross down the right, with Lee's conversion briefly giving Japan a 13-12 lead.
But the visitors replied instantly by pouring forward, and Proctor had his second try with Perofeta converting. Japan survived a maul at the corner before the fly-half kicked another penalty, and Nareki's blistering run set up Proctor's hat-trick to give the visitors a 29-13 lead at the break.
The second half also began with a try for the All Blacks XV as Love smothered an up-and-under before his quick grubber kick released wing AJ Lam, who kicked the ball in-goal to touch down.
A long period of attack resulted in Love scoring the visitors' sixth try before Japan wing Semisi Masirewa shrugged off the opposing defense to dive over for his team's second try. Masirewa crossed for his brace and Lee converted again to close the gap to 41-27.
But penalties and handling mistakes took the wind out of Japan's sails late, enabling the visitors to preserve their lead.
"Obviously we made a lot of mistakes," Joseph said. "Although we performed really well in places, we were playing a really quality side from New Zealand and if you make mistakes against these guys, they will punish you."
"But it's a good experience for us, it's only the second game in the last six months and from this point onward it's going to get better."