Lewis Ludlam, Courtney Lawes, Freddie Steward and Joe Marchant all touched down as England eventually saw off their enterprising opponents in Nice.
Early in the second half they were booed by their own fans as they continued to kick the ball away at every opportunity, only to then throw the kitchen sink at enterprising opponents ranked 14th in the world.
After routing Argentina 27-14 with 14 men in their Pool D opener, they at least avoided a potential banana skin and with fixtures against Chile and Samoa to come, they are destined to reach the last eight.The ball squirted around unpredictably because of the humidity and while Japan produced the more glaring mistakes in the first half – including one costly line-out blunder – they also adapted better in attack.
Half-backs Ford, who booted 14 points, and Alex Mitchell seemed content to continuously kick the ball away, perhaps convinced that the greasy conditions meant it was wiser to wait for Japan to make a mistake.
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