PAUL REES talks to Japan coach Jamie Joseph about Murrayfield date after 18 months with no internationals

Japan generated such interest and momentum during the 2019 World Cup they hosted that leading countries which before had regarded a home fixture against them as unappealing, both commercially and as an occasion, started wooing them.
Then the pandemic struck and when Japan face the Lions at Murrayfield in two months, it will have been 614 days since their last Test.
They lost their incoming tour last year, which included a fixture against England, and had to turn down an invitation ...