A Japan team boasting several Olympic champions will be aiming to build on their remarkable 2004 Athens success at the Asian Games in Doha.

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While their prime target remains the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Japanese officials are hoping a decent showing in Qatar will also boost the country's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

"The Asian Games are an important springboard to Beijing," Japanese Olympic Committee vice president Tsutomu Hayashi said.

"Unless we can be competitive in Asia it will be impossible to compete on the biggest stage of all at the Olympics. If we don't produce it could even damage Tokyo's 2016 bid."

Japanese athletes won a record total of 37 Olympic medals -- 16 of them gold -- and will be anxious to underline their strength in Doha.

"We don't want people to think our achievements in Athens were pure luck," said Hayashi. "We are hoping to win at least 50 gold medals in Doha and to finish above South Korea."

As a bonus for their performance in Athens, Japan overshadowed bitter rivals South Korea, who won nine gold medals out of a total of 30.

At the 2002 Asian Games, however, South Korean athletes won 96 gold medals -- more than twice Japan's haul, though the hosts still fell way short of China's 150 golds in Pusan.

Japan have streamlined their Games team to 628, slightly fewer than four years ago, but still boast Olympic champions such as swimmer Kosuke Kitajima who will carry the nation's banner.

Kitajima's form has lurched from bad to worse since he won the 100 and 200m breaststroke double in Athens and his future was in doubt earlier this year.

However, the 24-year-old, who has struggled with injury and ill health over the past year, is set to swim the 50, 100 and 200m in Doha in a bid to resurrect his career.

Athens hammer throw gold medallist Koji Murofushi is favourite to collect his third straight Asian Games title while sprinter Shingo Suetsugu bids for a second 200 metres crown.

Japan also boasts an embarrassment of riches in judo and women's wrestling which they hope will tip the balance in the anticipated battle for second place behind dominant China.