Well that was a battle but Wales showed real grit to come through in tough conditions against a team higher in the world rankings.

Seren Lockwood scored twice, either side of a try by hooker Kelsey Jones, but it was the defence that impressed most with a first clean sheet for almost eight years.

Alex Callender celebrated her 50th cap in a huge display by the Welsh pack in the second half.

But the result was tainted by what looks to be a serious leg injury to centre Freya Bell who will almost certainly miss next week's follow-up match in Kumagaya.

So join us again next Saturday for live coverage of the WXV.

Caryl James
Former Wales wing on BBC Radio Cymru

Japan scored plenty of tries against Ireland who are 5th in the world, that just shows how good Wales were defensively.

I can sit here happy at the end of the game, because the confidence I saw from Wales in that second half made up for what was a tough first half.

Wales showed their quality towards the end.

Image source, Getty Images

Wales head coach Sean Lynn said:

"It was a good result.

"The whole 23 were outstanding in my opinion. The bench made a really good impact so that was good to see.

"The support has been amazing out her in Japan so that's been great to see and we really appreciate it.

"Especially after the USA game we wanted to focus on our possession and territory game. Our coaches have been working really hard on that.

"I'd like to thank everyone again for their fantastic support here."

Wales co-captain Kate Williams said: "I'm so proud of the girls. We knew Japan would be tough and there were ups and downs throughout the game.

"So I'm really proud of the way the girls stuck together in the tough times, stayed solid in defence and then took our chances when they came.

"We knew Japan would be tough at the set-piece so that's something we have focused on all week. We stayed on top in the key moments of the game.

"We're excited to see how we can build on this for next week."

That's the first time Wales have kept a clean sheet in a Test match for almost eight years.

The last time they nilled opposition was when they beat Hong Kong 65-0 back in November 2018.

Elinor Snowsill
Former Wales fly-half on BBC Radio Wales

Wales had to work hard for that one, it was a real test match.

It wasn't pretty and it wasn't perfect, but you can really tell how far this squad has come even though they didn't perform as well as they'd like.

The defence won them that match day, the pack were outstanding in that second half.

Caryl James
Former Wales wing on BBC Radio Cymru

It was great to see so much experience coming off the bench for Wales today.

Lots of them have come on and just steadied the ship and brought some control back to the game for Wales.

The pack have been fantastic in this second half.

That's it, Wales draw first blood in this fixture.

That was an impressive second half display from the pack as well as the defence.

Philippa Tuttiett
Former Wales international on BBC One Wales

Wales should be chasing that fourth.

It's about finishing this game with confidence and dominance, regardless of what the score is.

To rub salt into the wounds, the replacement prop was given a yellow card while Lleucu George was lining up her kick.

Georgia Evans is also off the bench and into the Welsh boiler room and their scrum is absolutely demolishing Japan.

That's twice now that they have literally shoved the Japan eight clean off the ball.

Surely they have to add points.

This has been a big shift from prop Sisilia Tuipulotu and hooker Kelsey Jones.

It's not often you see front-rowers go the distance these days but the Wales pair have been on for the duration and have just won another scrum penalty.

Impressive.

Of course as I write that, Jones has just made way with five minutes to go.

Elinor Snowsill
Former Wales fly-half on BBC Radio Wales

Wales will be happy with this outcome.

I'd like to see them playing through the phases and keeping the ball in hand, the kicking game isn't working and they look slick with ball in hand when they do go there.

Into the final ten minutes and you would like to see Wales take on Japan a little more with ball in hand.

Wales have re-jigged their backline after the Freya Bell injury with Seren Lockwood on the wing and Keira Bevan forced back to scrum-half.

But they have the ability to run at Japan rather than stick to what appears to be the game plan of kicking.

The conditions have changed so surely the game plan can now as well?

Philippa Tuttiett
Former Wales international on BBC One Wales

Image source, Getty Images

Wales have to had to work hard, it has been a battle.

Finally, they get themselves into position where they can execute that lineout drive, this time everything was text book.

Have Wales got an immediate third try?

Seren Lockwood looked like she had snuck in to win the footrace to the bouncing ball.

But it is ruled out for Kelsey Jones being offside at that initial breakdown where Sisilia Tuipulotu had shown tremendous strength.

No score.

Oh Japan were fingertips away from a length of the field interception.

Lleucu George tried to float a pass out to the wing but Japan full-back Maiko Nishi was so close to picking it off.

If she could have pulled the ball in she would have been clear with 70 metres of empty grass in front of her.

Caryl James
Former Wales wing on BBC Radio Cymru

Lleucu George is very good at winning territory for us.

Her kicking can really get Wales up the pitch and that's exactly what we need for the rest of this half.