Halfback Fumiaki Tanaka will miss the November internationals as he is playing for the Barbarians against Australia and Leicester Tigers, while the seven other absentees sit out due to injury.
"It was fantastic timing for that to happen as it will really test our depth and is a fantastic opportunity for those who have not been in the 23 to show us whether they are capable of being in the 31-man squad for the World Cup," Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted Jones as saying on Tuesday.
Japan host the Maori All Blacks in Kobe on Nov. 1 and then Tokyo a week later before they travel to Europe to face Romania on Nov. 15 and Georgia on Nov. 23.
Jones said the opposition would give Japan a look at the different styles they could face in England next year.
Ranked 10th in the world by governing body the IRB, Japan will play in Pool B with the Springboks, Samoa, Scotland and the United States.
"The Maori are a free-running unstructured team, while Romania and Georgia are the exact opposite," said Jones. "We may have prioritised the World Cup ahead of short-term results, but our target is still to win the next four games.
Japan have appeared at all seven previous World Cups but their only win came at the 1991 tournament over Zimbabwe and have suffered numerous heavy defeats, including a record 145-17 loss to New Zealand in 1995.
They have improved greatly under Jones with wins over tier one nations Wales last year and Italy in June, thanks also to the growing success of their domestic league, which attracts a host of big name internationals from around the world.
(Reporting by Peter Rutherford in Seoul; Additional reporting by Patrick Johnston; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
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