The two sides both came into the round-robin decider with 100 per cent records but it was the British team who emerged victorious at the SSE Arena.

Their triumph on home ice ensured they ended a four-year stay in Division IB and consigned Japan, who were relegated from Division IA last year, to another campaign in the third tier of international men's ice hockey.

Japan made the brighter start but fell behind late in the first period when Robert Dowd capitalised on a five-on-three advantage in Britain's favour with a close-range finish.

The hosts had to wait until the 25th minute to double their lead Brendan Brooks diverted Dowd's shot from distance into the net.

Kenta Takagi thought he had got the Asian nation back into the contest three minutes later but his effort was ruled out and shortly after, Japan found themselves three goals down.

Colin Shields, who has been one of the star performers for the British team throughout the tournament, saw his shot redirected beyond Japan's goalkeeper Yutaka Fukufuji by Matt Myers to effectively kill the game as a contest.

Japan did rally but they were unable to turn their pressure into goals as Myers bagged his second of the match to wrap up a convincing win for Britain.

"It feels like we've got an identity again," said Britain head coach Pete Russell. 

"We played a bit different from the way Britain played in the past, we were pretty aggressive, we don't sit back. 

"Our identity now is as a proactive team.

"We've earned the right to play at the next level, now we need to stay there. But this is a young team and we have a lot of players who are here for a long time to come."

Lithuania finished in third place as they beat Croatia 3-1, while The Netherlands finished the event without a win to their name after they lost 4-3 to Estonia.