[3] Jarso moved to Japan around early 2008 and began competing on the circuit under the Honda corporate athletics stable,[2] taking a win at the Hyogo Relays in April that year.

He was initially disappointed with the performance, but was satisfied upon learning that his run of 8:13.47 had broken Tura's Ethiopian record for the event, a mark which had stood since the Olympic final in Moscow twenty-eight years earlier.

[7] He returned to Japan and began to take on longer distances, recording the third best time on his leg of the New Year Ekiden and beat Josephat Ndambiri to win the 10,000 m at the Hyogo Relays.

Roba Gary had beaten his national record in the month before the event but Jarso finished ahead of him again on the global stage, pipping him to fifth place with a new personal best run of 8:12.13 minutes.

[13] At the Delhi Half Marathon in November, he made his debut over the distance and managed a podium finish, taking third in a time of 1:00:07 behind compatriot Lelisa Desisa.

[21] Yacob made a breakthrough at the Seoul International Marathon at the start of 2014: he became the first Ethiopian winner of the long-running event and greatly improved his best to 2:06:17 hours.