Japan National Team Squad Announced Ahead of Autumn Fixtures
Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones has announced his 40-member Japan National Team Training Squad for the five upcoming Autumn test matches against Australia, South Africa, Ireland Wales and Georgia. In addition, he has named a further eight players as a supplementary JAPAN XV Training Squad who will provide extra cover for the two non-capped JAPAN XV matches against Australia A and Hong Kong China.
Comprising 21 forwards and 19 backs, the squad combines a mix of experienced campaigners alongside emerging test talent who Jones has blooded over his last two seasons in charge of Japan. Sticking firmly to his mission of ushering through Japan’s next generation of test stars, 18 of the already capped players hold just 10 caps or less. They in turn are joined by eight uncapped players who will be looking to stake their claim for higher National Team honours.
In some welcome news, sure to buoy Brave Blossoms fans, the talismanic Michael Leitch, Japan’s most capped current player returns to the National Team setup. Leitch sat out the Pacific Nations Cup after captaining the side during their two-test home series against Wales back in July. In his place Jones opted for Co-Captains in lock Warner Dearns and hooker Mamoru Harada.
With Harada eventually ruled out of the PNC due to injury, Dearns successfully captained the side throughout the tournament and into the final against Fiji. With Harada still unavailable through injury and Leitch back in the squad, Jones is set to name his Captain ahead of the Wallabies test on October 25 in Tokyo.
The forwards and backs will now assemble on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu for separate training camps from Monday, October 6. The forwards will convene in Beppu City, Oita until Thursday, October 9 at which point they will head south to link up with the backs who will train in Miyazaki from October 6. The additional eight players in the JAPAN XV Training Squad will join the main squad in Miyazaki from Sunday, October 12.
Commenting on his squad selection, Japan Head Coach Eddie Jones said:
“I’m pleased to name this training squad ahead of what is probably the most ambitious tour Japan has ever been on. It will be a fantastic experience for this young team to play against Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Wales and Georgia.
“The training camps are going to be pretty important. We’ve tried to keep the squad fairly consistent from the PNC, albeit with a few injuries and a few new players who have come available to enable us to increase our depth, particularly in the lock area where we’ve been skinny in terms of depth.
“We will have separate forwards and backs camps first to put down the basis of our game and then we will come together to get ourselves right to give this tour everything we’ve got. We want to compete for every play on tour, compete for every ball and take every team to the depth of a situation where we can win the game.”
Fans looking to catch the action live in Japan can purchase tickets for the JAPAN XV v Australia A match in Osaka on Saturday, October 19 and the Brave Blossoms vs Wallabies test match in Tokyo on Saturday, October 25 via the newly optimised English-language ticketing website at: https://quick.pia.jp/japan-rugby_en/
Japan National Team Squad Autumn 2025
Forwards (21)
| Name | Club Team | Graduate | Height (cm) | Weight (kg) | DOB | Cap |
| Ryosuke IWAIHARA | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Meiji Univ. | 184 | 115 | 1996/10/6 | 2 |
| Kenta KOBAYASHI | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 181 | 113 | 1999/6/2 | 4 |
| Taishi TSUMURA | RICOH BlackRams Tokyo | Teikyo Univ. | 173 | 108 | 2001/4/30 | 0 |
| Hayate ERA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Teikyo Univ. | 172 | 106 | 2001/9/18 | 5 |
| Kenji SATO | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Waseda Univ. | 177 | 108 | 2003/1/4 | 4 |
| Shodai HIRAO | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Kwansei Gakuin Univ. | 174 | 103 | 2002/10/11 | 0 |
| Sanshiro KIHARA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Senshu Univ. | 181 | 108 | 2003/1/20 | 0 |
| Shuhei TAKEUCHI | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ. | 183 | 115 | 1997/12/9 | 19 |
| Keijiro TAMEFUSA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Meiji Univ. | 180 | 108 | 2001/9/3 | 15 |
| Jack CORNELSEN | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Univ. of Queensland | 195 | 110 | 1994/10/13 | 24 |
| Tiennan COSTLEY | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | International Pacific Univ. | 192 | 102 | 2000/6/14 | 9 |
| Warner DEARNS | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Ryutsu Keizai Univ. KASHIWA HS. | 201 | 117 | 2002/4/11 | 27 |
| Tyler PAUL | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Nelson Mandela Univ. | 195 | 111 | 1995/1/20 | 0 |
| Harry HOCKINGS | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Univ. of Queensland | 208 | 124 | 1998/7/28 | 0 |
| David VAN ZEELAND | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Takushoku Univ. | 196 | 116 | 2000/2/11 | 0 |
| Akito OKUI | TOYOTA VERBLITZ | Teikyo Univ. | 178 | 105 | 2001/9/17 | 2 |
| Ben GUNTER | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Brisbane Boys’ College | 195 | 120 | 1997/10/24 | 14 |
| Michael LEITCH | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tokai Univ. | 189 | 113 | 1988/10/7 | 89 |
| Kanji SHIMOKAWA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 188 | 105 | 1999/1/17 | 18 |
| Amato FAKATAVA | RICOH BlackRams Tokyo | Daito Bunka Univ. | 195 | 118 | 1994/12/7 | 18 |
| Faulua MAKISI | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Tenri Univ. | 187 | 112 | 1997/1/20 | 20 |
Backs (19)
| Name | Club Team | Graduate | Height (cm) | Weight (kg) | DOB | Cap |
| Shuntaro KITAMURA | SHIZUOKA BlueRevs | Ritsumeikan Univ. | 168 | 77 | 2002/3/28 | 1 |
| Kenta FUKUDA | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Meiji Univ. | 173 | 83 | 1996/12/19 | 5 |
| Shinobu FUJIWARA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Tenri Univ. | 171 | 76 | 1999/2/8 | 16 |
| Sam GREENE | SHIZUOKA BlueRevs | Brisbane Grammar HS. | 178 | 85 | 1994/8/16 | 4 |
| Shinya KOMURA | TOYOTA VERBLITZ | Teikyo Univ. | 180 | 92 | 2002/5/28 | 0 |
| Seungsin LEE | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Osaka Korean HS. | 176 | 86 | 2001/1/13 | 24 |
| Yuki IKEDA | RICOH BlackRams Tokyo | Tokai Univ. | 187 | 100 | 1995/5/21 | 1 |
| Shogo NAKANO | TOKYO SUNTORY SUNGOLIATH | Waseda Univ. | 186 | 100 | 1997/6/11 | 10 |
| Yuya HIROSE | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Meiji Univ. | 182 | 94 | 2001/4/7 | 4 |
| Siosaia FIFITA | TOYOTA VERBLITZ | Tenri Univ. | 187 | 105 | 1998/12/20 | 16 |
| Dylan RILEY | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Bond Univ. | 187 | 102 | 1997/5/2 | 33 |
| Charlie LAWRENCE | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars | Hamilton Boys’HS. | 170 | 89 | 1998/5/27 | 4 |
| Kippei ISHIDA | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Meiji Univ. | 167 | 75 | 2000/4/28 | 5 |
| Kazuma UEDA | KOBELCO KOBE STEELERS | Kindai Univ. | 177 | 87 | 2002/12/4 | 0 |
| Tomoki OSADA | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Waseda Univ. | 179 | 90 | 1999/11/25 | 21 |
| Haruto KIDA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Ritsumeikan Univ. | 176 | 90 | 1999/4/9 | 2 |
| Halatoa VAILEA | Kubota Spears Funabashi TOKYO-BAY | Nippon Sport Science Univ. | 185 | 104 | 1999/2/14 | 3 |
| Ichigo NAKAKUSU | RICOH BlackRams Tokyo | Keio Univ. | 174 | 84 | 2000/6/1 | 3 |
| Takuro MATSUNAGA | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tenri Univ. | 172 | 82 | 1998/8/13 | 5 |
JAPAN XV Training Squad (8)
| Name | Club Team | Graduate | Height (cm) | Weight (kg) | DOB |
| Sho FURUHATA | SAITAMA Panasonic WILD KNIGHTS | Daito Bunka Univ. | 185 | 118 | 1996/12/10 |
| Shoma SAGAWA | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Sagamihara Dynaboars | Nihon Univ. | 180 | 103 | 2002/1/20 |
| Yuta KOKAJI | TOSHIBA BRAVE LUPUS TOKYO | Tenri Univ. | 176 | 109 | 1998/7/8 |
| Shu YAMAMOTO | RICOH BlackRams Tokyo | Kindai Univ. | 190 | 96 | 1999/6/1 |
| Rikuto NAKAYA | Doshisha Univ. | Osaka Toin HS. | 180 | 102 | 2005/4/15 |
| Asahi DOEI | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Kyoto Sangyo Univ. | 170 | 73 | 2003/1/9 |
| Yuto MORI | YOKOHAMA CANON EAGLES | Meiji Univ. | 174 | 85 | 1998/11/14 |
| Kotaro ITO | RICOH BlackRams Tokyo | Meiji Univ. | 177 | 86 | 2001/11/15 |
Japan National Team Upcoming Match Schedule
Saturday 18 October
JAPAN XV vs Australia A (Uncapped)
Asahi Super Dry CHALLENGE MATCH 2025
YODOKO Sakura Stadium, Osaka
Friday 24 October
Hong Kong China vs JAPAN XV (Uncapped)
Kai Tak Stadium, Hong Kong
Saturday 25 October
Japan vs Australia
Lipovitan D Challenge Cup 2025
National Stadium, Tokyo
Saturday 1 November
Japan vs South Africa
Lipovitan D Tour 2025
London
Saturday 8 November
Ireland vs Japan
Autumn Nations Series
Dublin
Saturday 15 November
Wales vs Japan
Autumn Nations Series
Cardiff
Saturday 22 November
Georgia vs Japan
Tbilisi