Head coach Eddie Jones says he wants his side to create history on Saturday by becoming the first Japan side to beat Wales in Cardiff.

The two sides meet for the fourth time in 16 months with Japan losing to a last-gasp Jarrod Evans penalty in the 24-23 victory at the Principality Stadium in November 2025.

Wales are 10th in the world rankings, two places above Japan, with both sides having beaten Fiji and Italy this year.

Japan enjoyed home wins against Wales in 2013 and 2025, when Jones was in charge, but have never managed a victory at the Principality Stadium.

"Japan's never beaten Wales at the Millennium [Principality] Stadium and it's one of the most iconic rugby stadiums in the world," said Jones.

"We've got this fantastic opportunity to get ourselves right at kick-off, to be full of energy, purpose and passion.

"We know how we want to play and we've got to do that with a lot of energy and passion. That's what we've been focusing on."

There are set to be thousands of empty seats in Cardiff on Saturday but Jones believes the ground will still be a Welsh cauldron.

"My experience in Cardiff is that it doesn't matter how many people are there, particularly for an afternoon game," said Jones.

"They've all been in the pub since opening hours. It's noisy, it's loud and it's passionate.

"Wales are going through a tough period and countries go through that.

"But you've got a great rugby country here and I'm sure the supporters will come through.

"Whatever crowd will be there, it will be a great atmosphere for the game."

There will be a Welsh influence in the Japan coaching staff again with former Wales flanker and Dragons coach Kingsley Jones having been drafted in by his namesake.

Kingsley Jones was part of the Japan backroom staff for the 1-1 series draw with Wales in July 2025.

"He's been in camp for four days and I don't think he's stopped talking the whole time! We're lacking a bit of oxygen in the camp at the moment," said Eddie Jones.

"He's a good mate of mine and we like to catch up. He's in camp, just watching what we're doing and feeding back on how we can improve."

Jones says he knows what to expect from Wales after Steve Tandy named his side.

"They have a lot of caps now and that brings experience - particularly around the set-piece," he said.

"We know they'll target us in the set-piece and potentially in the air and they've created a strong identity for themselves and Steve has done a very good job.

"That strong mauling, goal-line attack team with a high kicking game and they've developed a lot more robustness."

Jones says Japan's job is to "break Wales open".

"We play the opposite sort of rugby from Wales," he said.

"We want to break the game open, move the ball to the space quickly and probably take a few more risks than Wales play.

"It's a good contrast of styles. Both of us are trying to impose each other's style on them. The first 20 minutes of the game is going to be pretty important."

Japan have handed a debut to fly-half Riku Kitahara as part of a half-back pairing with co-captain Naoto Saito.

Kitahara starts with Ryunosuke Ito unavailable because of his commitments for his university in Japan.

The rest of the backline features Samisoni Tua and Dylan Riley in the centres, wings Inoke Burua and Kippei Ishida and Kazuma Ueda at full-back.

Mamoru Harada packs down at hooker with props Yota Kamimori and Shuhei Takeuchi either side of him, while Harry Hockings and co-captain Warner Dearns make up the second row.

Jack Cornelsen is named at number eight in a back row with Ben Gunter and Kanji Shimokawa.

Japan: Ueda; Ishida, Riley, Tua, Burua; Kitahara, Saito (co-capt); Kamimori, Harada, Takeuchi, Hockings, Dearns (co-capt), Gunter, Shimokawa, Cornelsen.

Replacements: Sato, Otsuka, Helu, Stolberg, Costley, Fukuda, Komura, Lee.