[2] In 1984, a national team was gathered for the first time in three years for a China expedition, with Takao Orii managing the squad.

However, in 1999, Japan failed to qualify for the 2000 Summer Olympics, and along with economic stagnation (Lost Decade) this helped cause the withdrawal of a series of teams from the L. League.

Officials expected a revitalization of women's football and planned a team reorganization, aiming for the 2004 Summer Olympics.

In particular, a game against Korea DPR, which decided who would participate in the 2004 Olympics, not only made fans rush to the National Stadium but also was widely watched on TV.

Beginning with a 6–0 thrashing of newcomer Argentina, Japan subsequently fell 0–3 to the eventual champions Germany, followed by a loss of 1–3 to Canada, the team that ultimately finished 4th.

In the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup held in China, they again faced Germany and Argentina, with England making up the group.

After qualifying from the preliminary round, Nadeshiko faced the United States, Norway and New Zealand in Group C of the Women's Olympic Football Tournament in Beijing.

However, as the two best third-placed teams progressed, Japan secured qualification for the quarter-finals with a 5-1 win over Norway in the final match of the group phase.

In the third-place play-off, Japan defeated hosts China 2-0 and secured the last Asian spot in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup (Australia and North Korea also qualified as finalists in that tournament).

There were certain doubts whether Nadeshiko would play in that tournament due to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami which happened a couple of months before, but the participation was confirmed at the last minute.

After finishing second in their group behind England, Japan shocked the world beating two-time defending champion and host nation Germany 1–0 in the quarterfinals, before easily defeating Sweden 3–1 to reach the final.

[12][13] It came right after men's team won the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, marked their most successful year in Japanese football.

[citation needed] Because of their top placement in the tournament, Japan, Australia, China, South Korea and newcomer Thailand secured their spot at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup to be played in Canada the following year.

Saori Ariyoshi and Mizuho Sakaguchi scored goals for Japan, and they ultimately survived a couple of nervy moments to get into the quarterfinals.

Yuki Ogimi brought Japan one back in the 27th minute, and an own goal from Julie Johnston halved the American lead, but Tobin Heath put the final touch on the United States' third Women's World Cup victory.

Defending champions Japan won in 2014 and played in the continental competition held in Jordan in a group with then-runners-up Australia, South Korea and Vietnam.

As Japan, Australia and South Korea each finished with 5 points, the tiebreaker was goal difference and the Japanese finished second behind Australia (the goal difference was also decisive for Japan to secure a direct spot in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup over South Korea).

Nadeshiko Japan, who no longer benefit from the surprise effect unlike previous tournaments, passed the first round without glory, with a narrow victory over Scotland (2–1) a goalless draw against Argentina (0–0) as well as a defeat against England (0–2) in the last group match for first place in group D. The Japanese find the Netherlands at the same stage of the competition as 4 years earlier, but the confrontation this time turns to the advantage of the Oranje who take their revenge and eliminated Japan by the same score by which they had lost in 2015 (1–2).

In front of their public, Japan passed the first round with difficulty, with a victory snatched in extremis on the edge of the last quarter of an hour of the game on the last day against Chile (1–0) to finish among the 2 best 3rd in the group, having had a few scares with a header from the Chilean Francisca Lara having rebounded on the goal line without crossing it just after hitting the bar,[18] and this shortly before the saving Japanese goal.

However, their dream of a third consecutive championship ended when they were defeated by China in the semifinals on penalties by 4-3 after a 2-2 draw that lasted until 120 minutes of extra time.

Facing Sweden, another Scandinavian in the quarter-finals, Japan was hailed as favorite due to their four consecutive wins at this World Cup, but, unfortunately for the Nadeshiko, they were unable to create as many chances as they did against Norway.

In the first match against Spain, they opened the score with a beautiful free-kick shoot from Aoba Fujino, but the Spanish came back by winning 2-1 with the goals of Aitana Bonmatí and Mariona Caldentey.

In the last match of the group phase against Nigeria, the Japanese qualified to the quarter-finals winning the Nigerians by 3-1 with goals from Maika Hamano, Mina Tanaka and a free-kick from Hikaru Kitagawa.

Although they made a great match against United States in the quarter-finals, Japan was eliminated losing to the Americans by 1-0 due to a goal of Trinity Rodman.

In modern times, the term “Yamato Nadeshiko” has been updated to mean “a modest woman” who is both strong, mature and determined, as well as beautiful, delicate and graceful.

Although the North Koreans don't play a lot of recently matches against the Japanese in professional terms, in the U-20 and U-17 competitions is the biggest rivalry of the continent.

"[48] The SheBelieves Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's football hosted in the United States.