This page records the details of the Japan national football team in 1988.
| January 27 | Japan | 1–1 | United Arab Emirates | Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
Hashiratani  85' |
JFA | ? ?' |
| January 30 | Japan | 0–2 | United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates |
| JFA | ? ?' ? ?' |
| October 26 | Japan | 0–1 | South Korea | Tokyo, Japan |
| JFA | ? ?' |
Stadium: Tokyo National Stadium |
| Player | -1987 | 01.27 | 01.30 | 02.02 | 06.02 | 10.26 | 1988 | Total |
| Hiromi Hara | 73(37) | - | - | - | O | O | 2(0) | 75(37) |
| Akihiro Nishimura | 48(2) | - | O | - | - | - | 1(0) | 49(2) |
| Satoshi Tezuka | 22(2) | O | O | O | - | - | 3(0) | 25(2) |
| Takashi Mizunuma | 21(6) | - | - | O | O | O | 3(0) | 24(6) |
| Shinichi Morishita | 16(0) | O | O | - | - | - | 2(0) | 18(0) |
| Kiyotaka Matsui | 13(0) | - | - | O | O | - | 2(0) | 15(0) |
| Takumi Horiike | 13(0) | - | - | - | - | O | 1(0) | 14(0) |
| Hiroshi Hirakawa | 6(0) | O | O | O | O | - | 4(0) | 10(0) |
| Katsuyoshi Shinto | 2(0) | O | O | O | - | - | 3(0) | 5(0) |
| Tomoyasu Asaoka | 1(0) | O | O | O | O | O | 5(0) | 6(0) |
| Tetsuji Hashiratani | 0(0) | O(1) | O | O | O | O | 5(1) | 5(1) |
| Osamu Maeda | 0(0) | O | O | O(1) | O | O | 5(1) | 5(1) |
| Masami Ihara | 0(0) | O | O | O | O | O | 5(0) | 5(0) |
| Toru Sano | 0(0) | O | O | O | O | O | 5(0) | 5(0) |
| Satoru Mochizuki | 0(0) | O | O | O | - | - | 3(0) | 3(0) |
| Nobuyo Fujishiro | 0(0) | O | O | - | - | - | 2(0) | 2(0) |
| Katsuhiro Kusaki | 0(0) | O | - | - | - | O | 2(0) | 2(0) |
| Masanao Sasaki | 0(0) | - | - | - | O | O | 2(0) | 2(0) |
| Yuji Sugano | 0(0) | - | - | O | - | - | 1(0) | 1(0) |
| Tomoyuki Kajino | 0(0) | - | - | - | O | - | 1(0) | 1(0) |
| Masaaki Mori | 0(0) | - | - | - | O | - | 1(0) | 1(0) |
| Mitsunori Yoshida | 0(0) | - | - | - | O | - | 1(0) | 1(0) |
| Shigetatsu Matsunaga | 0(0) | - | - | - | - | O | 1(0) | 1(0) |
| Atsushi Natori | 0(0) | - | - | - | - | O | 1(0) | 1(0) |