Former Ghana boss Milovan Rajevac was named Coach of the Year, the Serbian seeing off competition from TP Mazembe's Lamine N'Diaye and Egypt's Hassan Shehata.
Matthew Amoah made it 3-1 to Milovan Rajevac's side but the momentum swung back to Japan after goals from Keiji Tamada and Shinji Okazaki leveled the scores before Inamoto's winner.
New Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac will put squad captain Stephen Appiah on the bench, but must do without injured striker Asamoah Gyan for a Group 5 showdown with fellow leaders Libya in Tripoli.
The Coach of the Year award will be contested between Lamine N'Diaye, who led TP Mazembe to the African Champions League title, Milovan Rajevac, the man who masterminded Ghana's World Cup campaign, and Egypt's Hassan Shehata.