Ives, who was educated on the Taieri and played for the high school's first XV in his last couple of years at school, has been named in the Japanese squad to play at this month's Rugby World Cup in England.
Ives, after playing for University A, shifted to Japan seven years ago, where he has played for the Panasonic and Canon sides.
He qualified for Japan after three years living in the country and has played more than 15 tests for his adopted country.
Ives (31) will be eagerly anticipating the competition after a false start in the 2011 tournament.
He was named in the 2011 squad and despite picking up a knee injury in an earlier game a couple of months out from the World Cup, was all set to go.
But his knee blew out four days before the first game and he never played one minute for Japan in New Zealand.
Father Neville Ives said there had been a huge scare for his son in a test against a World XV last month.
Ives landed awkwardly on his knee and was carted off, and there were real fears he would be out for the tournament.
But he spent time in an oxygen chamber for the next week and had some blood transfusions, and his knee appears to have come right.
The Japanese team has arrived in England and is based at Bristol before its opening game against South Africa on September 20.
It would play a warm-up game against Georgia this week, Neville Ives said.
Justin Ives came back to New Zealand in 2012 and played six games for Otago in the ITM Cup, as well as playing for the Taieri club.
Neville Ives said he was considering travelling to England later in the month and watching the Japanese game against Scotland in Gloucester, where his son was expected to start.
Justin Ives was contracted for another year with Canon and after that the future was undecided, his father said.
He and his wife, Cathy, bought tickets and flights in 2011 to watch Japan play the All Blacks in Hamilton, only for Justin to go down with injury. The couple still travelled to Hamilton for the game.
Justin Ives' wife, Emily, and children, Addison (7) and Nate (5), will be travelling to England next month for Japan's final two pool games, against Samoa and the United States.
