Hosts Japan secured a bonus-point 36-19 win over Samoa to take a step closer to the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals.
Tim Lafaele, Kazuki Himeno and Kenki Fukuoka all touched down for the Brave Blossoms but it needed a late Kotaro Matsushima try to finally kill off a spirited fightback from Samoa at Toyota Stadium.
Fly-half Yu Tamura added 19 points with the boot after slotting over four penalties and three conversions – the extras to Matsushima's try going over with the aid of the upright.
The victory moved Japan top of Pool A on 14 points, three ahead of Ireland.
Jamie Joseph's side next face Scotland a week on Sunday when they will look to clinch an historic place in the last eight of rugby's showpiece event.
A relieved Jamie Joseph praised the never-say-die attitude of his Japan side.
"I feel a little bit relieved," Joseph told reporters. "I thought Samoa played really well, to bring a physical performance like that after they played a few days ago against Scotland, they should be very proud.
"We were a bit frantic in the first half, we didn’t execute exactly how we wanted to, but after halftime I thought we were more in control."
It looked as though the extra point would elude Joseph’s side but they then snatched two last-gasp tries, the first coming in the 75th minute and Matsushima's score following five minutes into extra time.
"Our team has incredible belief to the very end and the bench came on and made a massive impact on the game," Joseph said.
"That is one of the big reasons why we have been successful. It is not just one or two players that we rely on."
But Samoa coach Steve Jackson said he was left bewildered by some of the refereeing decisions. Jackson had no qualms with a yellow card for flanker TJ Ioane, the fifth his side has received in three games, after his no-arms tackle in the first half but argued South African referee Jaco Peyper was less severe on Japan.
He was also angry to lose experienced Tim Nanai-Williams after the full-back failed a Head Injury Assessment in another first-half incident that went unpunished.
"I'm probably just as bewildered as most people," Jackson told reporters. "I agree TJ's (tackle) was late. But it was shoulder to the chest, then it is shoulder to the head (against Nanai-Williams) and we lose a player after the HIA.
"I don't take away anything from Japan, but our players deserve better than that.
"We need consistency from referees. You make a call at a scrum and the opposition does the same thing at the next scrum and they get away with it… I just scratch my head sometimes."
