Japan, which took the bronze medal in wheelchair rugby at the previous Paralympics, won a closely contested Group A preliminary match 53-51 over France on Tuesday at the Tokyo Games.
Following the victory, Japan captain Yukinobu Ike wore a look of relief.
"It was a struggle, but everyone did their jobs," Ike said.
World No. 3 Japan had a tussle with the No. 6 side, but took advantage of the home field to grab the last-minute victory.
Japan on Wednesday led most of the way in taking care of Denmark 60-51 to improve to 2-0 in pool play.
But in the opener, the host nation was unable to contain France's top player from the start, and found itself down by two points after the first period.
Even entering the fourth and final period, Japan was still chasing France before it finally snatched the lead with about 3 minutes to play. It then used tenacious defense to hold off France for the victory.
"We have multiple lines [groups of four players] that we can give playing time to," said Daisuke Ikezaki, offering one reason for the team's success.
Japan in this game was able to rotate players in and out frequently and apply constant pressure to France's top player, and that proved to be effective at the very end of the match.
Japan won its first title at the world championships in 2018 but, because of the coronavirus pandemic, this was the team's first serious competition since autumn 2019. In addition, there was a lot of tension in a high-pressure opening match on the biggest stage.
Despite all that as the backdrop, the team came through by rallying from behind to post the victory.
It was a fine start for Japan, which has set the gold medal as its goal.
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