[9] The inaugural Beach Soccer Stars awards in 2014 saw Ozu named as part of the best team of the year, an accomplishment he has achieved again every since bar one as of 2022,[10] the most appearances of any player, cementing his position as one of the world's best.

[6] He has since had spells at FC City and Lokomotiv Moscow of Russia, Sporting CP of Portugal and Falfala Kfar Qassem of Israel.

In 2017, Ozu joined the first J-League club to establish a beach soccer branch, Tokyo Verdy,[13] who he would go on to win multiple JFA League titles with.

[3] He also became an ambassador of the JFA's 'Teacher of Dreams' project, touring schools across Japan, explaining to children how he has overcome problems in his life to achieve the successes in his field.

[15] 2019 continued to mark major international landmarks for Ozu as he reached a century of goals scored in a 7–2 win over Uruguay at the World Beach Games[16] and also earned his 100th cap at the Intercontinental Cup a month later.

[3] Despite crucially missing his attempt in the penalty shootout against Portugal in the semi-final, Ozu ultimately inspired Japan to a positive 2019 World Cup performance of fourth place, their joint best ever finish at the World Cup at the time, and he also won the prestigious Golden Ball (best player) award at the tournament.

[19] At the 2021 World Cup, he led Japan to the best ever placing for an Asian nation in the competition by finishing as runners-up, losing to hosts Russia in the final.