Japan 2 Belgium 2
Co-hosts Japan shared the points with Belgium after a pulsating draw in their opening match of the World Cup.
After a tense first half, the match exploded into life on the hour as veteran Marc Wilmots put Belgium ahead only for Japan to equalise two minutes later through Takayuki Suzuki.
Then came a memorable goal from Junichi Inamoto to send most of the 63,000 crowd at the Saitama Stadium into raptures, but Belgium struck back through Peter Van der Heyden.
Belgium survived a sustained period of Japanese pressure at the end, including a skewed shot across goal, but the Europeans could also have grabbed victory.
Inamoto had the ball in the net in the final five minutes but the flag had been raised for a push on a defender.
Japan certainly proved that they are capable of fulfilling the hopes of a nation by reaching the second phase of the competition.
The opening goal came when the Japanese defence failed to clear their lines. The ball was lobbed in to Wilmots, who with his back to goal launched himself at the ball to score with a bicycle kick on 59 minutes.
But just two minutes later the stadium erupted as Japan drew level.
Junichi Inamoto weighted a pass over the flat-footed Belgian defence for Takayuki Suzuki to poke the ball past goalkeeper Geert De Vlieger.
Japan began piling on the pressure as the Belgian defence looked ragged for the first time in the match.
A curling Shinji Ono free-kick from a tight angle forced a save from De Vlieger and then Inamoto, who has just spent a season in the reserve team of English Premiership side Arsenal, scored the most crucial goal of his career.
Picking up the ball on the halfway line, the blonde-haired midfielder raced between two defenders and curled the ball past the advancing De Vlieger, provoking mayhem in the stadium and a triumphant gesture from Japan's French coach Philippe Troussier.
The Japanese thought they had won the match but the experienced Belgians never gave up and got their equaliser.
The Belgians should have taken the lead 10 minutes before the break but the unmarked Bart Goor blasted a shot wide of the post from 10 yards out after Gert Verheyen's cross was not properly cleared,
They had another chance when Wilmots' header was well saved by Japanese goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki, showing why he has been preferred to Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi between the posts.
Gert Verheyen had earlier missed another chance, rising to head just past the post as he highlighted a weakness in the centre of the Japanese defence.
There was an early scare for Japan when their playmaker Hidetoshi Nakata was left limping after being caught by a defender as he set off on a surging run. But the midfielder who plays for Italian club Parma was soon back in action.
With 10 minutes left he collected a backheel and hammered a shot narrowly over the Belgian crossbar.
Japan had a half-chance when Suzuki had a shot blocked by Van Buyten and the resulting corner was collected by Belgian goalkeeper De Vlieger.
Atsushi Yanagisawa's header was too weak to trouble De Vlieger in the dying minutes of the half.