Kawasaki Frontale picked up where they left off last term, beginning their 2018 MEIJI YASUDA J1 League campaign with a 3-0 win at Jubilo Iwata.

The Japanese champions effectively ended the tie as a contest by half time, with Kengo Nakamura, Shogo Taniguchi and Eduardo all scoring before the break, and there was time for Yoshito Okubo to make his second debut with the club.

Kashima Antlers would have liked such firepower when they faced Shimizu S-Pulse in a 0-0 draw, and the 2016 J1 League winners never quite got going.

2018 Japanese Super Cup winners Cerezo Osaka meanwhile began their campaign holding Yokohama F. Marinos to a 1-1 stalemate, with Yoichiro Kakitani leaving it late to cancel out Ryosuke Yamanaka’s 17th-minute opener.

Kashiwa Reysol were not so fortunate as they endured their first setback of the season, losing 1-0 at Vegalta Sendai to Ko Itakura’s winner.