The Hamilton professional, who recorded his best finish three weeks ago with a tie for 11th place at the Sun Chlorella Classic, carded a three-under par 69 at the Vana H Cup overnight to be in a share of 20th place.
He will begin round two six shots back from the leader Japan's Yoshinori Fujimoto who opened with a nine-under 63.
The New Zealand Open Champion of 2001 made the turn in three under after four birdies and a bogey on the front nine.
Smail is looking for a strong finish to the season after making some changes with his putter. He made 29 putts in round one.
"Hopefully things have turned a corner," said the five-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour.
"I putted a lot better in my last event and finished 11th at Sun Chlorella so hopefully that bit of confidence will help. I also had the help of my old caddy John Bennett so a few little changes I have made hopefully will spark something for the rest of the year."
The 42-year-old, who has played for 15 consecutive years on the Japan Golf Tour, is currently 50th on the money list for 2012.
He needs to finish inside the top 70 to keep his card.
Fellow Kiwi professional Richard Lee was off the pace after firing a four-over par 76 to be in a share of 138th place.
Lee, who finished tied 22nd last week at the Kansai Open Golf Championship, is 90th on the Order of Merit and needs a good run of results to keep his card for next year.
Meanwhile in the United States, Manawatu professional Tim Wilkinson is the best of the Kiwis after round one of the News Sentinel Open in Tennessee on the web.com Tour.
The former PGA Tour pro had an even-par 71 to be in a share of 85th place on a disappointing day for the Kiwis.
Hamilton professional Steven Alker bogeyed the final two holes to card a two-over 73 for a share of 122nd place.
Wilkinson and Alker are 66th and 82nd on the web.com Tour Money List respectively and need to finish inside the top 25 to automatically qualify for the PGA Tour in 2013.
New Zealand No 1 Danny Lee, who missed out on the top 125 players who qualified for the Fed Ex Cup Playoffs on the PGA Tour in 159th place, made a disappointing return to the web.com Tour.
The former US Amateur Champion carded a one-over 72 to be tied 106th and off the pace set by American Casey Wittenberg who fired a nine-under par 63.
Lee made three birdies and four bogeys at the Fox Den Country Club in his first event on the web.com Tour for 2012.
In Scotland, Michael Campbell has had a forgettable return to the European Tour.
The former US Open champion carded a 10-over par 82 to be in share of 153rd place at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.
Campbell, whose last result was a tie for 11th at the French Open, began on the 10th tee and made bogeys on 12 and 14 before getting back to one over with a birdie on the 17th.
But Cambo hit disaster either side of the turn. He made a triple bogey at the 18th and a quadruple bogey eight at the par-four first hole to effectively drop out of contention after round one.
The eight-time European Tour winner made two further bogeys to sign for an 82. He'll begin round two 15 shots back from the leaders Australian Brett Rumford and Norwegian Knut Borsheim.
The 43-year-old, who was granted life membership to the European Tour following his US Open win, has made the cut in only four of 13 tournaments in 2012.
