[3] He edged towards the top of the national scene at the 2011 Japanese Championships, placing second to Naoto Tobe, and cleared two metres and twenty for the first time that season, ending with a best of 2.24 m (7 ft 4 in).

[4] As a consequence of this performance he was chosen to compete at the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships held in Kobe and out did Tobe by having a personal best of 2.24 m (7 ft 4 in) to place fourth.

[7] His first national title followed at the Japan Championships in June, but by the time of the Asian Games in September, he could only manage a jump of 2.15 m (7 ft 1⁄2 in) for eleventh place.

[1] He was again strong in the early season of 2015, twice equalling his best to win at the Shizuoka International and place third at the Golden Grand Prix (behind Bogdan Bondarenko and Zhang Guowei).

[2][8] He did not reach such heights at the 2015 Asian Athletics Championships, but his jump of 2.24 m (7 ft 4 in) in the rain of Wuhan was still enough to win a gold medal for Japan – world leader Mutaz Essa Barshim surprised by finishing in third, some twenty centimetres off his best.