[2] Born in the city of Mito, located in the Ibaraki Prefecture, he began playing football at age 6 and was inspired by seeing his father score a hat-trick in a match.

In his first year at Hosei, Ueda scored 15 goals in 27 games and won the JUFA Kanto League 1 Best Rookie award.

[12] He began the season back representing Hosei, but in July 2019 it was announced that he would be retiring from the university team and would be joining Kashima earlier than initially planned.

[14] He made his debut for Kashima Antlers in July 2019, coming on as a late substitute for Shoma Doi in a 1–1 league draw with Urawa Red Diamonds.

[31] Before Ueda joined up with the rest of the Japan squad to participate in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in November, he had scored eight goals in eighteen games, including a brace and a man of the match performance in a 4–1 victory over Charleroi.

[35] He made his debut in 0–0 league draw with Fortuna Sittard in the opening game of the season, after coming on as a second-half substitute for Quilindschy Hartman.

At the start of the 2024–25 season, Ueda won his second trophy with the club after Feyenoord beat PSV Eindhoven in the 2024 Johan Cruyff Shield.

[51] Used as a substitute in the first two group games against Turkey and Portugal, he made a big impact in the latter scoring two goals as Japan won 3–2.

[53] He appeared in six out of Japan's seven games during the tournament, including playing the full 120 minutes against South Korea in their extra time win in the gold medal match.

He ended up as top scorer in the tournament, scoring a hat-trick in a 5–0 win over Kuwait[58] and the equalising goal in a 1–1 draw with United Arab Emirates.

[63] In the main competition, Japan were surprisingly knocked out at the group stage, with Ueda not able to make an impact in either of the games he appeared in.

[65] After seeing off South Korea in the quarter finals and beating Italy on penalties in the semi-final, Japan ended up winning the competition after a 4–1 victory over Brazil in the gold medal match including a hat-trick from Ueda.

[67] He went on to make an appearance at every game during the tournament, including 90 minutes in a 4–0 win over France,[68] and culminated in Japan finishing fourth after losing the bronze medal match 3–1 to Mexico.

[72] Despite his performances at Copa América, Moriyasu once again named Ueda in the Japan squad, this time for the 2019 EAFF E-1 Football Championship.

This was Ueda's first and last appearance at the 2022 World Cup as he was then unused for the rest of the tournament, as Japan got knocked out in the Round of 16 by eventual semi-finalists Croatia.

On 15 June 2023, Ueda scored his first senior international goal in a 6–0 thrashing of El Salvador in the 2023 Kirin Challenge Cup.

[78] On 16 November 2023, Ueda scored his first international hat-trick during the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Myanmar in a 5–0 win.