By this time next year, Japan will be one of the four best teams in the world.
That's the aim anyway, according to their ambitious coach, Takeshi Okada.
The Japanese have, for most of the past decade, hovered around the number 40 world ranking spot they currently occupy.
But Okada believes he is bringing together a squad capable of reaching the semi-finals of next summer's World Cup in South Africa.
If in Scotland - and perhaps among some of the regular Scottish squad members - the perception is that the 12,000-mile round trip to Yokohama is a less-than-useful exercise, in Japan the feeling couldn't be more different.
Hasebe helped Wolfsburg win the Bundesliga title last season
In the space of a week, the Blue Samurais take on Hong Kong in an Asia Cup qualifier then play Scotland and Togo in friendly matches.
The local press have referred to this series as 'a crystal ball for the World Cup', believing the tests against European and African opposition will be a good gauge as to whether Okada's vision can be realised.
So far, it's one down, two to go as Okada's Japan crushed the Cantonese minnows 6-0 with a tried and tested XI with around 450 caps between them.
But the 56-year-old revealed prior to the Shizuoka encounter that that was always the plan.
However, in his second spell as coach of his country, he has raised a few eyebrows over his squad selection.
Of course, their talisman Shunsuke Nakamura, well known to Scottish football fans, is present, as are some others from among Japan's exports to Europe.
Fellow midfielder Makoto Hasebe is starring this season in the Champions League, having helped German club Wolfsburg to the Bundesliga title.
Kesuke Honda, running the midfield for unfashionable Dutch side VVV Venlo, is being tipped by many to become the next Japanese superstar.
And likely to get his first taste of international football is Takayuki Morimoto, a 21-year-old striker who has drawn high praise from contemporaries in Serie A and who has caught the eye of English giants Chelsea and Manchester United.
In a nation always eager to prove its prowess in any field to the rest of the world, Europe-based players are soccer royalty.
But the bulk of 'Okada's Japan', as they are referred to here, ply their trade in the relative obscurity of the J-League.
In his previous stint in the job, the coach showed he was not afraid to make bold decisions.
When in charge of Japan's first-ever World Cup campaign in 1998, Okada controversially dropped then-poster boy of Japanese football Kazu Miura from the squad.
So Okada is a refreshing change in a culture that does not encourage the unpredictability of mavericks.
Among the surprises in this squad, which Okada has christened as his "new battle strategy", is a recall for the Japanese equivalent of Callum Davidson.
Naorhiro Ishikawa, of FC Tokyo, last appeared for his country in 2004, but Okada has made the bold step of bringing the player back into the fold to add steel and goals to a team that, in general, creates plenty of chances but converts few and which can struggle when games become physical.
Ishikawa's inclusion is an example of Okada's new policy of picking players with specific qualities for specific situations.
Okada is looking to widen the ambitions of Japan's national team
Similarly, in attack, Sanfrecce Hiroshima's Hisato Sato has been selected almost as Okada's official supersub.
"He's a player who, if we need a goal in the last 10 minutes of a game, can go on and get us that goal," he said.
"Many players can score when chances are presented to them, but Sato can make goals for himself from nothing."
The line-up to face Scotland was always going to be experimental according to Okada, although George Burley's raft of call-offs has frustrated the Japan boss, whose meticulous preparations have now been in vain.
"I got a phone call telling me 10 players had dropped out of their squad," he told local newspapers. "I'm going to have to rethink things for that game."
After taking over from Ivica Osim, who had to give up the job after suffering a stroke, Japan were the second nation to book their tickets to South Africa, qualifying from their group without too much difficulty.
As Asia's second-top nation, following the addition of Australia to the confederation, we can expect Japan to be regular protagonists at football's biggest show.
But, for them, that is no longer enough and the next step beckons as they aim to play a major role on the World Cup stage.
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?