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London - England came from behind to beat Japan 35-15 at Twickenham on Saturday as they avoided a shock defeat by the 2019 World Cup hosts.
Japan led 15-10 at half-time and were threatening an upset to rival their stunning 34-32 win over South Africa at the 2015 World Cup, when they were coached by current England boss Eddie Jones.
But England scored 25 unanswered points after the break, with late tries from Test debutant Joe Cokanasiga and Dylan Hartley sealing victory.
England scrumhalf Danny Care scored the first try of the match after just three minutes but Japan's passing, led by their No 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, and handling was far sharper in the opening stages of a dry day well-suited to their running game.
Japan's enterprising play was rewarded with tries by centre Ryoko Nakamura and captain Michael Leitch.
Meanwhile England again paid the price for indiscipline, with hooker Jamie George, starting in place of regular co-captain Hartley, sin-binned.
But England recovered to lead thanks to openside flanker Mark Wilson's first Test try and the boot of George Ford, their captain for this match, before powering away.
"Eddie spoke at half-time with Dylan as well as Ford, they spoke to the team to try and get us back on track," England lock Maro Itoje told Sky Sports.
"We just needed to up it, they were beating us round the corner and winning the one-on-ones.
"Japan are a good team but we should be beating them."
Jones made 11 changes to the side that suffered an agonising 16-15 loss at home to world champions New Zealand last weekend, with Fiji-born Cokanasiga -- who arrived in England aged just three -- included.
Flyhalf Ford, winning his 50th cap, led the team out after being benched for a 12-11 win over South Africa and the All Blacks loss.
Japan's 'amateur' players were earning 14 (2,000 Yen) per day for this game, whereas their England counterparts received 25,000 per match.
Just the second Test between the two countries was proof of Japan's progress, with coach Jamie Joseph saying: "We gave sloppy penalties away and allowed England back in which was a little bit disappointing, but I'm proud of the players all the same.
"It was a big experience for us and it's exactly what we need as we get into the World Cup next year," the former New Zealand international added.
"Our mentality is slowly changing, we're starting to believe that we can take these bigger teams on and that's going to help us next year."
Cokanasiga was quickly into the action as England went ahead, being released by fullback Elliot Daly.
He in turn found George on his inside, who delivered a scoring pass to Care.
Japan got on the scoreboard thanks to flyhalf Yu Tamura's long-range effort in the 16th minute.
Soon afterwards, England were a man down when George was yellow-carded for killing the ball.
From the ensuing scrum, Tanaka fired the ball to Nakamura, who went in under the posts after Alex Lozowski -- replaced by regular co-captain Owen Farrell at half-time -- missed a tackle.
Tamura converted and Japan led 10-7 before England won a scrum penalty on the halfway line that saw long-range kick specialist Daly's superb 50-metre strike level the scores.
But Japan hit back after they caught England napping with a quick line-out.
The ball was worked back and across the field before finding its way to Leitch out on the right.
The flanker powered through tackles by replacement hooker Dylan Hartley and Care before side-stepping Daly for the try.
Ford's penalty punished a rare Japan infringement early in the second half and England went ahead on the hour mark.
Powerful running by replacement prop Kyle Sinckler and Itoje paved the way for Ford to find Wilson with a clever inside pass for a converted try.
England put the result beyond doubt when replacement scrumhalf Richard Wigglesworth released Cokanasiga who charged over before Hartley finished off a driving maul.
England complete their 2018 programme at home to Australia on November 24 when Japan play Russia in Gloucester in a dress rehearsal for the World Cup's opening game.
Teams:
England
15 Elliot Daly, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Jack Nowell, 12 Alex Lozowski, 11 Chris Ashton, 10 George Ford (captain), 9 Danny Care, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Mark Wilson, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Maro Itoje, 4 Charlie Ewels, 3 Harry Williams, 2 Jamie George, 1 Alec Hepburn
Substitutes: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Ted Hill, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Henry Slade
Japan
15 William Tupou, 14 Akihito Yamada, 13 Timothy Lafaele, 12 Ryoto Nakamura, 11 Kenki Fukuoka, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Kazuki Himeno, 7 Masakatsu Nishikawa, 6 Michael Leitch (captain), 5 Uwe Helu, 4 Wimpie van der Walt, 3 Jiwon Koo, 2 Atsushi Sakate, 1 Keita Inagaki
Substitutes: 16 Yusuke Niwai, 17 Koki Yamamoto, 18 Asaeli Ai Valu, 19 Samuela Anise, 20 Hendrik Tui, 21 Shunsuke Nunomaki, 22 Yutaka Nagare, 23 Rikiya Matsuda
