Japanese activities on fusion structural materials R&D have been well organized under the coordination of university programs and JAERI/NIMS programs more than two decades. Where, two categories of structural materials have been studied, those are; reduced activation martensitic/ferritic steels (RAFs) as reference material and vanadium alloys and SiC/SiC composite materials as advanced materials. The R&D histories of these candidate materials and the present status in Japan are reviewed with the emphasis on materials behavior under radiation damage. The importance of IFMIF and technology development for blanket R&D including ITER-TBRG activity is emphasized and the current status of those activities in Japan is also presented.