Although he played many matches as center back from first season,[2] the club finished at the bottom place and was relegated to J2 League.

In 2015, Moniwa returned to Japan and re-joined Cerezo Osaka which was relegated to J2 from 2015 season.

[5] Moniwa made his international debut for Japan in a friendly against Tunisia on 8 October 2003.

[6] He scored his first international goal on 3 August 2005 against China PR in an East Asian Cup match.

[7] He was a late entry in Japan's 2006 World Cup squad, being called up after Makoto Tanaka was injured[8] when he was spending his vacation in Hawaii.