Parkes, 33, left Scarlets and Wales last summer to join Japanese side Panasonic Wild Knights.
His team faced Suntory Sungoliath in the early hours of Sunday morning with the Top League title on the line and it was Parkes’ team who came out on top 31-26.
The Suntory side contained New Zealand superstar Beauden Barrett, but it was Panasonic who edged the tie by a five-point margin.
Barrett was the man culpable for Panasonic’s first score with centre Dylan Riley picking off his pass to cross for the final’s opening effort.
Japan winger Kenki Fukuoka scored in his final match before retiring to put the Wild Knights further ahead and with Parkes doing a good job at centre, his team were well in control at 23-7 up at the break.
A try from Japan prop Asaeli Ai Valu gave the Wild Knights a seemingly unassailable lead at the start of the second half.
Parkes, who helped Wales to win a 2019 Six Nations Grand Slam and finish fourth at that year’s World Cup, must have thought his team wouldn’t be caught from that position.
But Barrett’s kicking kept Sungoliath in the hunt for their sixth Top League title and tries from scrum-half Naoto Saito and full-back Seiya Ozaki set up a grandstand finish.
In the end, Panasonic and Parkes held on as the former Wales centre ended his first season in Japan on the highest of highs.
