Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura has been called up by Japan coach Takeshi Okada for next month's internationals.

Nakamura is one of three Europe-based players included in the 26-man squad alongside Eintracht Frankfurt's Junichi Inamoto and Makoto Hasebe of Wolfsburg.

Okada's team will face the UAE on October 9 in Niigata before entertaining the Uzbeks in Japan's second match in the final phase of Asia's World Cup qualifying tournament at Saitama Stadium on October 15.

The former Yokohama F Marinos coach has also called up four players - Shinji Okazaki of Shimizu S-Pulse, Kashima Antlers' Shinzo Korogi and Oita Trinita duo Masato Morishige and Yasuhito Morishima - from Japan's Under-23 squad.

"This is the squad I selected due to their fitness and also I wanted to give some of them a chance to challenge for the senior squad," said Okada

"But this is not a selection trial. We'll play to beat Uzbekistan with those players. We'll go into the Uzbekistan game with a must-win attitude."

Japan won the opening game in the final round of Asia's World Cup qualifying tournament for South Africa 2010 when they defeated Bahrain 3-2 in Manama in early September.

Squad: Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Jubilo Iwata), Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus), Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale); Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F Marinos), Kazumichi Takagi (Shimizu S-Pulse), Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Urawa Reds), Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Yuki Abe (Urawa Reds), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Masato Morishige (Oita Trinita), Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers); Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic), Junichi Inamoto (Eintracht Frankfurt), Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale), Takeshi Aoki (Kashima Antlers), Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo), Makoto Hasebe (Wolfsburg), Shinji Kagawa (Cerezo Osaka); Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus), Seiichiro Maki (JEF United Chiba), Hisato Sato (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Yoshito Okubo (Vissel Kobe), Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse), Shinzo Korogi (Kashima Antlers), Yasuhito Morishima (Oita Trinita).