Dubbed the "moon sniper", the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency probe aims to land within 100 meters, or 328 feet, of its target.
The agency says the technology is unprecedented and essential in the search for moon water and human habitability.
If successful, it would be a boost for a space program that has suffered a wave of setbacks and has been eclipsed by rival China.
The probe will start a 20-minute touchdown phase from 1500 GMT on Friday.
It will try to land on a target site roughly the size of two athletic tracks, on the slope of a crater just south of the lunar equator.
Here's Kazuto Saiki, a professor at Ritsumeikan University who developed the probe's near-infrared camera that will analyse moon rocks.
"Once this technology is proven successful, we will be able to land on difficult terrain such as moon poles. I hope this will help Japan to keep its technology advance at a very high level in the world."
Tokyo is looking to play a bigger role in space, partnering with close ally Washington to respond to China.
But its space agency, also known as JAXA, has faced multiple setbacks in its rocket development.
That includes launch failures last year of its new flagship H3 rocket, which aimed to match the lower costs of rockets by companies like SpaceX.
JAXA has twice landed on small asteroids, but a moon landing is much more difficult due to its gravity.
In an interview, Bleddyn Bowen, a space policy specialist at the University of Leicester, underlined the importance of the moon sniper's mission to Japan.
"Japan being the fifth state to land a rover on the moon would be very important and significant, because it will demonstrate its space industry and capabilities to the world and global industrial interests. It will also demonstrate that it can keep up with the times as more and more countries are much more interested in the moon than ever before."
Bowen doesn't think the technology will be a "game changer", but could help lower the costs of accessing the moon.
Upon landing, the moon sniper will deploy two mini-probes that will take pictures of the spacecraft.
JAXA says it will take up to a month to verify whether the probe achieved their high-precision landing goals after the touchdown.
