WHEN Josh Strauss first saw Japan play rugby in the 1995 World Cup, it was the smallest of minority sports in their country – and results reflected that. They conceded more than 50 points to each of Wales and Ireland before being utterly humiliated by New Zealand who broke a pile of records in rattling in 145 points.

Shift the clock forward only 20 years and things could not have been more different as they beat South Africa, Samoa and the USA and it was only Scotland – who they played only four days after that mighty effort against the Springboks – who found a chink in the Brave Blossoms' armour.

For Strauss, that was a truly memorable day. His first cap and in Scotland's opening match of the World Cup. He was even given two jerseys for the occasion, one to swap and one to keep, but there is no way either was be allowed out of his grasp.

Now he has about to make history involving Japan again. This time in Tokyo when the hosts head into the second Test with two remarkable landmarks heading their way as Akihito, the Emperor of Japan, prepares to watch his first international rugby match and the organisers are able confidently to predict he will be part of a record crowd for a Test in the country.

If it was worrying Strauss, there was no sign of it. "My debut was against Japan in the World Cup, a great moment," he said. "I was a bit unsure of how I would feel, it being my first game and being born in South Africa but it was a great moment, a proud feeling, singing the anthem and being out there with the boys, a group of my friends.

"So it is great for me to have my first tour to Japan as well. We have all loved the experience and I am fascinated by the culture, the amount of respect the Japanese people have and the way they live their lives. It has been a good experience. I am very happy to be involved this week to get my chance to play against Japan again.

"The first time I saw Japan play was in the 1995 World Cup in South Africa. Now, I see a lot of my friends from South Africa playing over here – Super Rugby players – it has been great to see. It is showing in the international team, who did so well in the last World Cup. They are a team to be reckoned with and the sport will keep growing."

Scotland, though, are here to prick the Japanese bubble of self confidence., They won the first Test 26-13 and with a game under their belts and the rust out of the system aim to do even better this time round.

"We will look at things we did well, look at the things we struggled with and try to get better. It is all about improving. That is a big thing for us in the squad since I have been involved," Strauss pointed out.

"Rustiness does play a part. It has been a long season and a lot of the guys have been involved in all the international blocks and PRO12 games. I had a bit of time off but have had had two weeks training and did the contact stuff last week.

"Japan are a good defensive team and they build on that. Their set piece has improved a lot as well. With the infrastructure of club rugby and having a Super Rugby team in place the sport will grow, you can see that. Their set piece is much better.

"They are a very structured team. In the past when you paid lower-tier countries, their structure would be there for twenty minutes. This Japan team has shown they are in the game for 80 minutes. They are fighting for it all the way and that comes from having a good base and that comes from set-piece, structures, defence, things like that."

The recipe for Scotland is simple. Cut out the stilly, self-inflicted mistakes, hang onto the ball for longer and make sure they get men to the breakdown more quickly. They dominated the set-piece battle in the first Test and expect to do so again – with rain predicted that could be the key to the result.

That said, some of the cohesion they might have expected from their second outing of the summer will be lost after Vern Cotter, the head coach, made six changes in personnel – though, to be fair, he did not have a great deal of choice about five of them with two players going home injured and three more struggling after their exertions last week.

Strauss is one of the new men, and has at least had a chance to have a look at the opposition live and give himself some idea of what to expect. "You want to play well and do well for the jersey," he said. "We always talk about what an honour it is to wear the thistle. I want to show I deserve to be there by playing well. That is all I can do."

Japan: R Matsuda; M Sa'u, T Bennetts, H Tatekawa, Y Sasakura; Y Tamura, K Shigeno; K Inagaki, S Horie, K Hatakeyama, H Ono, N Kotaki, H Tui, S Kin, A Mafi. Replacements: T Kizu, M Mikami, S Kakinaga, K Yatabe, R Holani, K Uchida, K Ono, P Paea.

Scotland: S Hogg (Glasgow Warriors); T Seymour (Glasgow Warriors), M Scott (Gloucester), P Horne (Glasgow Warriors) S Maitland (Saracens); R Jackson (Harlequins), H Pyrgos (C) (Glasgow Warriors); R Sutherland (Edinburgh), S McInally (Edinburgh), M Low (Exeter), R Gray (Toulouse), J Gray (Glasgow Warriors), J Strauss (Glasgow Warriors), J Barclay (Scarlets), R Wilson (Glasgow Warriors). Replacements: F Brown (Glasgow Warriors), G Reid (Glasgow Warriors), W Nel (Edinburgh Rugby), T Swinson (Glasgow Warriors), J Hardie (Edinburgh), G Laidlaw (Gloucester), H Jones (Stormers), S Lamont (Glasgow Warriors).