The national team (which is named "The Cherry Blossoms") is ranked 11th worldwide by World Rugby as of 11 September 2017 (World Rugby Rankings).

With Asia's relative weakness at rugby union, Japan struggles to get serious competition.
The result is that Japan is caught in the middle: a big fish in the small pond of Asian rugby union, but still at present a relative minnow in the vast ocean of international rugby union.

The national team is also usually reinforced for the World Cup by one or two foreign-born players who qualify under World Rugby regulations.
Of these Andrew Miller and Andrew McCormick, both from New Zealand, and Sinali Latu from Tonga have been the most successful.
The national team (which is named "The Cherry Blossoms") is ranked 11th worldwide by World Rugby as of 11 September 2017 (World Rugby Rankings).
With Asia's relative weakness at rugby union, Japan struggles to get serious competition. The result is that Japan is caught in the middle: a big fish in the small pond of Asian rugby union, but still at present a relative minnow in the vast ocean of international rugby union.
The national team is also usually reinforced for the World Cup by one or two foreign-born players who qualify under World Rugby regulations. Of these Andrew Miller and Andrew McCormick, both from New Zealand, and Sinali Latu from Tonga have been the most successful.
Rugby union in Japan