As one of the title contenders at the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup, Japan will be expected to comfortably make it out of the group stage.
Especially after the luck of the draw landed them in -- on paper, at least -- a favourable Group C, where they have avoided formidable second-seeded teams China and South Korea.
And also considering even finishing third could be good enough to secure a place in the round of 16.
It is unlikely that Nadeshiko will find themselves in such a scenario where they are scraping through by the skin of their teeth. Yet, if their opening match against Chinese Taipei on Wednesday is anything to go by, neither will it be a complete walk in the park -- even in these earlier stages of the competition.
The statistics will accurately show that the Japanese were in complete control of proceedings. They had a staggering 89.5% of possession and fired away 30 attempts on goal compared to none from their opponents. Such numbers, however, do not always automatically translate to three points in the bag.
Which is why, despite facing far more resistance than they might have expected against Chinese Taipei -- having taken an entire hour to finally break the deadlock and only securing the victory in injury-time -- the 2-0 win to start their campaign was the only thing that mattered.
Chinese Taipei were more than happy to sit back. To say they played most of the 90 minutes with all 11 players behind the ball would not be too much of an overstatement. And, to their credit, they stuck to their tasks all afternoon long.
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With Chinese Taipei staying deep and compact, even Japan's most-creative technicians struggled to carve out a clear opening in an overpopulated penalty box. Their cause was not helped by the fact that opposition goalkeeper Wang Yu-ting was in inspired form, also bailed out on a couple of occasions by her woodwork and defenders.
So perhaps it should come as no surprise that it was ultimately a more direct approach that finally led to Japan's breakthrough in the 61st minute.
It was hardly a hit-and-hope piece of play but there was still less of the intricacy commonly associated with Japan's play as Hana Takahashi lofted a searching, over-the-top diagonal ball in from the edge of the area.
But, with an exquisite bit of control, Momoko Tanikawa would expertly bring the ball down on her chest before calmly dispatching a shot past Wang to hand her side a hard-earned lead.
From that point, Nadeshiko never looked like relinquishing their advantage as it was them who continued to push forward in search of a second.
They did however have to wait until the second minute of stoppage time to finish the contest -- as Remina Chiba was released down the left by a probing pass from Fuka Nagano before hanging a cross up inside the box that gave Kiko Seike ample time to launch at and send a brave header into the back of the net.
So, while it was far from straightforward, an unexpectedly hard-fought win should still serve Japan well.
They are likely to come up against similarly-conservative approaches in their next two matches against India and Vietnam. It may even continue in the round of 16 and quarterfinals.
Perhaps it will only be in the latter stages of the tournament, when they come up against opposition of similar quality who will be confident enough to take them on, where Japan will get sufficient freedom to play their preferred brand of football to the fullest.
After all, if the last FIFA Women's World Cup -- where they claimed a resounding 4-0 group-stage win over eventual champions Spain -- is anything to go by, the Japanese are often at their best when up against opponents who are also looking to attack.
Until then, they will have to continue figuring out ways to unlock all-out defences.
The positive from Wednesday's opening triumph is that they proved they can.