Borussia Dortmund are in Japan again and play their first of the two scheduled friendlies tomorrow against Cerezo Osaka, followed by a clash with FC Tokyo on 1 August.
It's not their first time in the country though, with the BVB having previously traveled to the East Asian nation on three occaions, in 2015, 2017 and 2024.
Here, we're going to take a look at each of those three visits and see who Dortmund played against whilst how they fared against each of them.
Japan tour, 2015: Shinji Kagawa mania
Borussia Dortmund are set to be reunited with their former star Shinji Kagawa on the field tomorrow as the midfielder is in line to feature for Cerezo Osaka against his former side. And he's also the reason for Dortmund's popularity in Japan.
Their first trip there in 2015 was mostly about him, as Kagawa's meteoric rise with the BVB had seen growing support for the club in Japan. In order to expand their foothold in the country, they even visited it for the first time, 11 years ago.
But this tour was rather brief, with Dortmund playing just one friendly match: against Kawasaki Frontale, whom they beat 6-0 with Kagawa and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang bagging a brace each. Mitsuru Maruoka and Jon Stankovic were also on target for the visitors that day.
Japan tour, 2017: Squeaky bum-time in Saitama
On their second visit to Japan, Borussia Dortmund played in Saitama as part of the 2017 J. League World Challenge as the Bundesliga giants met with AFC Champions League winners Urawa Red Diamonds.
The Red Devils went in front after 24 minutes but a second-half brace from Emre Mor put Dortmund 2-1 up. Future Liverpool signing Wataru Endo equalized for Urawa with only five minutes of normal time remaining, but Andre Schurrle won it for the BVB just three minutes later.
Japan tour, 2024: A narrow win in Osaka
Borussia Dortmund returned to Japan after seven years for their third tour of the preseason campaign and yet again, played just one fixture. This time, their opponents where Cerezo Osaka, played as part of the 2024 EuroJapan Cup.
The BVB were relentless, flying out of the blocks to race to a 3-0 lead inside the opening half an hour as Karim Adeyemi struck a brace. Interspersed between his two goals was a strike from Jamie Gittens too.
But the visitors appeared to take their feet off the pedal in the second half following a raft of changes which allowed Osaka to claw their way back into the tie. Masaya Shibayama pulled one back in the 66th minute while Reiya Sakata made it 3-2 another seven minutes later.
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