Takahashi, who is not only a pioneer of men's singles skating in Japan and Asia, but also known and admired for his outstanding musicality, expressiveness and versatility as well as his unique style, has been and frequently continues to be cited as an inspiration and idol by his peers such as Patrick Chan,[3][4] Tatsuki Machida,[5][6] Adam Rippon[7][8] or Tomáš Verner[9] as well as by skaters of younger generations such as Shoma Uno,[10] Denis Ten,[11] Cha Jun-hwan,[12] Jason Brown,[13] Misha Ge[14] or Kazuki Tomono.

In addition to performing in ice shows, he has also appeared as a dancer in Cheryl Burke's stage production Love on the Floor.

However, when Honda was forced to withdraw due to injury, it fell on Takahashi to qualify spots for Japan at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

The Japanese Skating Federation split the international assignments, giving Takahashi the Olympic berth and Oda a place at the World Championship.

In the 2006–07 competitive season, Takahashi won a silver medal at 2006 Skate Canada International, then gold at the 2006 NHK Trophy.

He was considered a favorite heading into the 2008 World Championships but finished off the podium after a disappointing free skating in which he fell on his second quad toe attempt, then stumbled on a triple Axel and triple loop, and, finally, performed an extra combination, an invalid element, which did not count towards his points total.

[22][23] It was later reported that Takahashi would undergo surgery to repair ligament damage and his right meniscus and would miss the entire 2008–09 season.

Multiple problems, including low levels on two spins, resulted in a sixth-place finish in that segment, dropping him to fourth overall.

"[25] As part of his preparation for the 2011–12 season, Takahashi spent two weeks in August 2011 working with ice dancing specialists Muriel Boucher-Zazoui, Romain Haguenauer, and Olivier Schoenfelder in Lyon, France, to hone his skating skills.

The French crowd believed he deserved the gold medal over Patrick Chan, who had mistakes, including a fall on a double Axel, and booed the final result.

[1] In September 2019, Takahashi announced that he would finish his competitive singles career that season and switch to competing in ice dance with partner Kana Muramoto.

[52] Following the conclusion of his singles career, Takahashi began training with Muramoto in Florida under Marina Zoueva, the coach of Olympic champions Virtue/Moir and Davis/White.

Takahashi's star status in Japan made his decision to switch to ice dance a point of considerable interest in the country's media and figure skating audience.

Muramoto/Takahashi nevertheless traveled from Florida to Japan to make their debut at the 2020 NHK Trophy, in a field consisting of only three Japanese dance teams.

[54] In the free dance, Takahashi fell out of his second set of twizzles, which combined with missed levels of some lift elements to drop them to third place.

They won the free dance but took the silver medal overall for the second consecutive year and were subsequently named as alternates for the Japanese Olympic team.

[65] After a sixth-place finish at the 2022 Skate America, they went on to compete at the 2022 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge, where they earned their first gold medal as a team.

[68] The team encountered difficulties at the Four Continents Championships, beginning in the rhythm dance, where Muramoto fell in the midst of their midline step element.

Takahashi explained that he was unable to put any further strain on his long-term knee injury and therefore saw no opportunity to continue his athletic development.

In 2016 Takahashi took part in a test-run for the fusion of projection mapping and figure skating, performed to the song GIFT by Japanese pop rock band Mr. Children.

The technology was subsequently implemented in the new cross-genre show Hyoen - Basara (2017), starring Takahashi, kabuki actor Ichikawa Somegoro VII (now Matsumoto Kōshirō X) and retired singles figure skater and Olympic champion Shizuka Arakawa.

In 2018 Takahashi took on his first project (called D-color) as 'total coordinator' for his sponsor, real estate company Sky Court Ltd, designing the interior and exterior of a 13-storey condominium building in Asakusa, Tokyo.

[79][80] In 2024 Takahashi co-choreographed the program Symmetry with Muramoto,[81] which they performed at the Prince Ice World - Broadway Rocks!

[82] In April 2024 Takahashi completed his third D-color project for the 55th Anniversary of Sky Court Ltd, designing the interior of a one-room apartment.

The City of Warehouses), written and directed by Emiko Hiramatsu, which is set and was entirely filmed in Takahashi's hometown of Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture.

In the film, he plays a curator of a local museum who becomes the confidant of the main characters, high school students Aoi Nanba and Beniko Shiraga, portrayed by Soma Santoki and Runa Nakashima.

[85][86] In October 2024 Takahashi founded the members-only official fan community F-Ske on the platform FANICON together with Shizuka Arakawa, his ice dance partner Kana Muramoto, Takahito Mura, Kazuki Tomono, Keiji Tanaka, Yuna Aoki, Kosho Oshima, Yuto Kishina and Rena Uezono.

[18] After initially retiring from figure skating, Takahashi moved to Long Island, New York, where he enrolled in English classes at a local university.

[91] With the silver medal at the 2007 Worlds, Takahashi made many media appearances and performed in many ice shows in Japan.

After his win at 2010 Worlds, Takahashi appeared as a guest on many TV shows and as an advertising spokesperson for the "Use pesticides safely campaign"[93] and Japan Post.