The Samurai Blue are expected to rack up a large win when they take on Singapore at the Saitama Stadium in their opening match in Group E of the joint World Cup and Asian Cup qualifying campaign.
But the Franco-Bosnian coach, appointed in March, said the three points against their 154th-ranked opponents, who have said they face little chance of grabbing a draw, should not be taken for granted.
"We cannot underestimate Singapore. We must keep our focus and play with the highest accuracy," Halilhodzic told Kyodo News on Monday.
"All things considered we should dominate possession but we have to pay attention. Singapore have quick players up front and could cause us trouble on counter-attacks. They beat Cambodia 4-0 so they must be doing something right."
Halilhodzic pointed to France's shock 1-0 defeat by Albania on Saturday in terms of what can happen when complacency sets in.
"Maybe some of our players think they are already on holiday in which case we could be in for a surprise," the former Ivory Coast boss said.
"Look at France, they lost to a team they had never lost to before. No one expected it but it happened.
"If I feel that anyone on our team is not at 100 percent, I will bench them even if it's 10 minutes into the game. You cannot be anything less than 100 percent and expect to qualify for the World Cup. Everyone has to be at their absolute best."
While Singapore opened their campaign by sinking Cambodia on Thursday, Japan were putting four past 2007 Asian champions Iraq in a Yokohama friendly.
With Syria and Afghanistan the other teams in the group, Japan are expected to easily top the pool and move through to the next round of qualifying for Russia 2018 and take a place at the 2019 Asian Cup.
(Writing by Patrick Johnston, editing by Tony Jimenez)
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