Their coach, the erstwhile Wallabies gaffer Eddie Jones, is a rugby savant, and from the outset it was easy to see his charges were trying to execute carefully laid plans. Namely, keep the ball in hand, recycle quickly, and stich together phases.
It was an admirable strategy, but it hit a sizeable roadblock early on. Every time the Japanese took the ball into a collision, they were in serious jeopardy of losing it, so effective were the Maori at forcing mistakes and turning the ball over at the breakdown.
That theme was a constant throughout the match. The first try came from Japan's dilly-dallying with the ball in their own quarter. Lock Tom Franklin duly pilfered the tackle ball, it went through the hands, and prop Chris Eves popped up on Matt Proctor's shoulder to cross over unopposed in the corner.
History repeated shortly thereafter - Japan hammering away at the line, going nowhere, coughing up the ball, and watching a man in a black jersey waltz over the line. This time it was centre Jason Emery who profited, with the first of his two tries before the break.
The Maori weren't total opportunists. A neat lineout move from about 15 metres out showed they were equally effective from set piece. They were given something of a blank cheque, though. Hooker Ash Dixon threw the ball deep into the lineout, a canyon of space opened up for halfback Chris Smylie, which he wandered through and fed openside Sean Polwart to finish.
The second half continued in much the same vain. The Maori were rarely under any pressure in recycling their own ball, which meant they could pretty much go about their phase play at leisure.
That state of affairs provided the perfect platform for first-five Ihaia West to show his wares.
The young Blues general showed touches of real class - a bullet 20-metre pass to unleash replacement Nehe Milner-Skudder was a highlight, as was a delightful grubber kick that threaded the backline defence and bobbed up to captain Charlie Ngatai, who was left with a clear run to the line. Blues boss Sir John Kirwan would have certainly been pleased.
Japan had their moments. They earned a penalty try from a textbook rolling maul in the first half that the Maori couldn't help but collapse, and they managed to bag another in the second half after a solid scrum on the Maori line had the New Zealand men travelling backwards.
They also earned a try from general play after a darting run from replacement first-five Kosei Ono cleared space for Amanaki Lelei Mafi.
The sides meet again next weekend in Tokyo.
Maori All Blacks 61: C Eves, J Emery (2), S Powlett, I West, N Milner-Skudder, C Ngatai, J Lowe tries; I West 6 cons, 3 pens.
Japan 21: 2 Penalty tries, A Mafi try; A Goromaru 3 cons.
