Having helped the Red Diamonds to the AFC Champions League in 2007, he played for Urawa at the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup.

On 23 December 2010, he left Japan and transferred to the German club Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who promptly loaned him out to FC Augsburg.

Playing for the newly promoted Bavarian club, Hosogai helped avoiding relegation before returning to Bayer Leverkusen for the 2012–13 season.

He was a member of the Japan team for the 2008 Summer Olympics finals,[6] and made his debut for the Japan national team in a 1–0 win against Paraguay (playing in his natural role as central midfielder) at his home stadium in Saitama on 4 September 2010, after being called up for the first time by caretaker Hiromi Hara and under the auspices of new manager Alberto Zaccheroni.

[7][8] He scored his first goal for the senior national team on 25 January 2011 in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup semi-final match against South Korea.