He spent five seasons with the men from the Japan Sea coast and played a total of 84 league games before returning to Osaka in 2014.

Gamba Osaka had just been promoted back to J1 League following their shock relegation in 2012, when they acquired Higashiguchi to be their new first-choice goalkeeper ahead of the 2014 campaign.

[3] On 23 July 2015, Japan's coach Vahid Halilhodžić called him up to the national team for the first time ahead of the upcoming 2015 EAFF East Asian Cup.

Like two years previously, his only involvement was in a match against China which Japan won this time 2–1 to help themselves to the runners-up spot in the tournament behind South Korea.

He was named in Japan's squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.,[5] but did not play in any of the team's matches as Eiji Kawashima started all four of their games.