He played mostly as an outfielder for the Chunichi Dragons and the Seibu Lions of the Nippon Professional Baseball league in a career spanning 18 years.

In 1998, Wada began playing semiregularly as an outfielder, batting .306, the same average he recorded the next year.

Playing left field and DH, he made the Best Nine as the top designated hitter in the Pacific League.

In the 2004 Japan Series, he finally broke his postseason struggles in a big way by batting .310 with four homers in Seibu's victory over the Chunichi Dragons.

He edged Julio Zuleta (.319) and Matsunaka (.315) for the first Pacific League batting title won by a right-handed hitter since Hatsuhiko Tsuji in 1993.

Wada was on the winning Japanese club in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and went 0 of 2 with one strikeout in two games as the backup left fielder to Hitoshi Tamura.

At the end of the 2007 season, Wada opted for free agency and joined boyhood club and reigning Japan Series champions, the Chunichi Dragons in a 3-year, ¥840 million deal to replace MLB bound right-fielder, Kosuke Fukudome.