The opening round of the competition also saw Samoa overcome a Tongan side handicapped by two yellow cards 25-17 in Apia.
But it was the result at the new Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium which raised the most eyebrows after Fiji had begun the month with a couple of strong showings against the Maori All Blacks potentially providing a platform to rise up the world rankings.
However it was Japan who took the honours at the ground built in an area previously devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
