Hosts Japan have got their Rugby World Cup campaign off to a winning start.
Kotaro Matsushima scored a hat-trick as they ran in four tries to beat Russia 30-10 and collected a bonus-point.
The Cherry Blossoms go into the weekend at the summit of Ireland's Pool A.
"It is my first three tries as a Japanese player. We were able to connect with each other and the roar of the fans became our driving force," Matsushima said after being presented with the man of the match award.
"I want our strong momentum to win to carry into the next match against Ireland".
Japan coach Jamie George admits his team were feeling the weight of expectation early on in the game in Toyko.
"The game was a challenge for us and the boys were nervous.
"We said before the game, it is all about expectation and the guys always prepare well but you realise just how much pressure there is on the guys and we're proud of the way they came through in the end.
"We made a lot of unforced errors. Our kicking game was pretty poor so we're going to fix it up quickly.
"But you really take your hat off to the Russians, they really took it up to us and they really put us under a lot of pressure. You've got to congratulate them."
Russia captain and former Blackrock College player Vasily Artemyev feel there's positives they can take from the game.
"You could see throughout the game we stuck to our game plan. A few penalties and a couple of missed opportunities, those are the things that made the difference in the end."
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