Gamba Osaka and Vissel Kobe have stayed in the second division for just a year, winning a promotion as champions and runners-up respectively.
Fourth-placed Tokushima Vortis won the promotion playoffs and become the very first Shikoku club to play in the top flight since the establishment of Japan Soccer League, the first amateur nationwide football league in Japan.
On the other end of the table, Kamatamare Sanuki have been promoted from 2013 Japan Football League, replacing Gainare Tottori whom they defeated in the J2–JFL playoffs.
[1] This means these three clubs are not eligible to play in J1 for 2015 season and therefore cannot be promoted directly or via playoffs.
Thus, JEF United Chiba who finished third in the season received a bye into the final.