Fiji kept alive its World Cup playoff hopes by out-muscling surprise package Japan 41-13 at Dairy Farmers Stadium in Townsville.

The patchy Fijians notched up their second win and bagged a bonus point while giving Japan its biggest loss of the tournament.

Japan had high hopes for a victory after threatening Scotland and France in its first two Pool B matches but collapsed after halftime.

Japan trailed 16-13 at halftime and went scoreless in the second spell despite dominating possession and territory against the error-prone but brilliant Pacific islanders.

The hulking Fijians succeeded where Scotland and France failed by intimidating the relatively small Japanese in the opening minutes.

But the Cherry Blossoms regrouped and used unexpected tactics in an attempt to outsmart their opponents.

Fiji began to struggle for possession and its troubles worsened when it lost classy five-eighth Waisale Serevi to injury after he'd opened the scoring with a penalty.

Japan's Andrew Miller scored all his team's points, with a full house of a try, conversion, penalty and a drop goal from 51 metres.

The Fijians showed their natural flair when they took advantage of a brief concentration lapse from Japan to score two easy tries.

Fiji shored up its position in the second half, with fullback Norman Ligairi and winger Aisea Tuilevu completing doubles to take the score to 31-13 and give Fiji its bonus point.

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