Tongan-born Mafi put in a monumental shift after replacing Hendrik Tui in the second half in Brighton on Saturday and provided the pass for Karne Hesketh's dramatic late winning try.
Mafi will start at number eight on Wednesday in Gloucester with Tui dropping to the bench in one of six changes to the side that wrote itself into the history of the game last weekend.
Justin Ives comes in for Hitoshi Ono in the second row alongside Luke Thompson, while props Keita Inagaki and Hiroshi Yamashita start in place of Masatake Mikami and Kensuke Hatakeyama.
In the backline, Yu Tamura comes into the side at inside centre to allow Harumichi Tatekawa to replace Kosei Ono at flyhalf, while winger Kenki Fukuoka wins a start in the back three.
Versatile back Hesketh retains his place on the bench as the Brave Blossoms look to maintain the momentum from their extraordinary performance against the Springboks with a first ever win over Scotland.
"We made a splash against South Africa but want to make a real dent in this tournament," coach Eddie Jones said on Monday.
"We want to back up what we did when we play against Scotland. It will be a great occasion. Hopefully, we’ll get crowd support as we did against South Africa."
Japan: 1-Keita Inagaki, 2-Shota Horie, 3-Hiroshi Yamashita, 4-Luke Thompson, 5-Justin Ives, 6-Michael Leitch (captain), 7-Michael Broadhurst, 8-Amanaki Mafi, 9-Fumiaki Tanaka, 10- Harumichi Tatekawa, 11-Kenki Fukuoka, 12-Yu Tamura, 13-Male Sa'u, 14-Kotaro Matsushima, 15-Ayumu Goromaru
Replacements: 16-Takeshi Kizu, 17-Masataka Mikami, 18-Kensuke Hatakeyama, 19-Shinya Makabe, 20-Shoji Ito, 21-Hendrik Tui, 22-Atsushi Hiwasa, 23-Karne Hesketh
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
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