Rachid Muratake, Japan's first Olympic finalist in the men's 110-meter hurdles, claimed fifth place in Paris on Thursday after challenging for a podium with a 13.21-second sprint.
The 22-year-old Olympic debutant, 30th in his only world championship appearance in 2022, was right in the mix in the final at Stade de France won by American Grant Holloway who ran clear of the rest to cross in 12.99.
His compatriot Daniel Roberts snatched silver in 13.085, 0.003 ahead of bronze-winning Jamaican Rasheed Broadbell.
Spain's Enrique Llopis finished fourth, a hundredth of a second ahead of Muratake.
"It was really fun. I hit the first hurdle but I recovered from the second (and) third one onward, and it didn't really have much impact," said Muratake, whose father is from Togo.
"I had a mixed expression on my face after the race, the joy from being on this stage on one side and the frustration from missing out on a medal on the other. Everyone was really fast."
"I've gained huge experience having run on this stage even just once, and I definitely want to win a medal at the world championships next year in Tokyo."
Earlier, 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games silver medalist Japan qualified for the men's 4x100 relay final after coming fourth both in its heat and overall, clocking 38.06.
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown was the fastest among the first runners in Japan's heat before Hiroki Yanagita and Yoshihide Kiryu successfully passed the baton for Koki Ueyama to cross the finish line.
In a strong heat next to Japan, the United States came top in 37.47, followed by South Africa's 37.94 and Britain's 38.04.
Italy, China, France and Canada also made the final while Jamaica missed out.
"It wasn't bad but we have to come up with runs that are better than this in the final," Sani Brown said.
Japan made the 4x100 final at the Tokyo Games but did not complete the race after making an error on a baton handover.
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