The 20-man list features Catania forward Takayuki Morimoto, midfielders Makoto Hasebe of Wolfsburg, Espanyol's Shunsuke Nakamura, Daisuke Matsui of Grenoble as well as Keisuke Honda, who plays for CSKA Moscow.

Joining them from the J.League are familiar faces such as midfielder Yasuhito Endo of Gamba Osaka, Nagoya Grampus defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka and forward Shinji Okazaki of Shimizu S-Pulse.

Although Japan have already qualified for the 2011 finals in Qatar with their 3-2 win over Yemen in early January, Okada is busy preparing for the World Cup in June, which has taken on greater urgency following their poor performance in the East Asian Championship earlier this month.

"This is the selection I made to win the game," Okada said.

"We couldn't play good games in the East Asian Championship and I hope we can take this opportunity and improve this time around."

From the East Asian Championship squad earlier this month, however, Kawasaki Frontale midfielder Kengo Nakamura and Kashima Antlers midfielder Mitsuo Ogasawara are missing, while Kashima forward Shinzo Koroki is recalled.

Kengo Nakamura suffered a broken jaw injury during his club's Asian Champions League opener at Seongnam Ilhwa on Tuesday night.

Bahrain have also secured their berth in next year's Asian Cup.

Japan squad: Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus), Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale), Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F. Marinos), Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Nagoya Grampus), Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers), Shunsuke Nakamura (Espanyol), Junichi Inamoto (Kawasaki Frontale), Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Daisuke Matsui (Grenoble), Yuki Abe (Urawa Reds), Makoto Hasebe (VfL Wolfsburg), Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow), Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus), Sota Hirayama (FC Tokyo), Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse), Koroki Shinzo (Kashima Antlers), Takayuki Morimoto (Catania).