TOKYO >> The University of Hawaii is moving forward with plans to play a regular-season football game in Japan within the next few years.

Jim Donovan, the school’s athletic director, revealed the prospect while in Osaka over the weekend for a men’s basketball game. Hawaii was finishing up a 15-day tour through China and Japan.

The Rainbow Warriors could play a football game in Japan as soon as 2014. Donovan said he met with executives of the Osaka Dome, where the proposed game would take place.

Donovan said Hawaii would consider opponents in its Mountain West Conference, which includes national powerhouse Boise State, and the Pac-12 Conference.

The story was first reported by The Japan Times.