Masahiro became a regular for the 1989 Giants, batting .254/.312/.361 and won his first Gold Glove as the top defensive shortstop in the Central League.

The next season, he set a new Nippon Professional Baseball record with 58 sacrifice hits and put up a good .288/.356/.450 line with career highs in slugging, home runs (9) and steals (9).

His 176 total bases and 23 doubles were career highs and his 45 sacrifice hits gave him the Central League lead for a fourth consecutive year.

Masahiro batted .256/.301/.327 during the 1998 season and he failed to reach 100 games played for the first time in six years as Daisuke Motoki was used regularly at short; Kawai remained the starter.

He became the chairman of the board of the Japan Professional Baseball Players Association that winter; he would hold the job for three years before Kazuyoshi Tatsunami took his place.

There were fireworks on the Tokyo Dome electronic scoreboard and a flowery ceremony involving Kawai's wife and children, accompanied by tears of joy all around."

Kawai caught on with the Chunichi Dragons for 2004 and hit .261/.393/.391 in 23 AB, playing 80 games, almost exclusively as Tatsunami's backup at third base.

He played one game in the 2006 Japan Series and, very fittingly, laid down a successful sacrifice bunt in his final plate appearance after 23 years in Nippon Professional Baseball.

Ken Hirano (451) was second all-time in Nippon Professional Baseball in sacrifice hits at the time of Kawai's retirement with no other player within 200.