[6] The following year, Tamura, along with several key wrestlers in AJW, took part in a mass exodus led by Kyoko Inoue, and left the promotion, which was struggling with financial difficulties.

[7] Meanwhile, Tamura made appearances for several independent promotions, including Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), Hyper Visual Fighting Arsion and Oz Academy.

[16] On December 7, Tamura regained the NEO Single and NWA Women's Pacific Championships by defeating champion Lioness Asuka, Kyoko Inoue, Mima Shimoda, Misae Genki and Ran Yu-Yu in a six-way elimination match.

[15] Tamura's third reign ended on October 14, 2002, when the HJPG (Horipro Joshi Puroresu Group) stable stole her belt, which was then declared vacant and put up for grabs in a tournament.

[15] On November 10, Tamura defeated Kyoko Inoue and Mima Shimoda in a three-way elimination tournament final match to win the vacant titles for the fourth time.

[19][23] On August 19, Tamura and Haruka Matsuo defeated the Oz Academy team of Carlos Amano and Chikayo Nagashima to win the Mid Summer Tag Tournament VI.

[19][25] Tamura's domination continued well into 2007, with successful NEO Single and NWA Women's Pacific Championship defenses against Ayako Hamada, Emi Sakura and Vanessa the Mountain.

[30] Afterwards, Tamura began feuding with the Revolucion Amandla stable of Atsuko Emoto, Kyoko Kimura and Tomoka Nakagawa, often teaming with the likes of Aya Yuki, Etsuko Mita and Misae Genki.

[36] On May 5, Tamura won the NEO Single and NWA Women's Pacific Championships for the seventh time by defeating former tag team partner Emi Sakura with a new finishing maneuver, Mount Cook.

[19][40] On December 31, the reunited Tamura and Ayumi Kurihara defeated Nanae Takahashi and Kana of Passion Red for the NEO Tag Team Championship.

[42] On May 5, 2010, following the departure of Kyoko Inoue, NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling, which was celebrating its tenth anniversary, announced that it would cease its operations after the year-end show on December 31.

[49] On November 6, Tamura successfully defended the NEO Single and NWA Women's Pacific Championships against longtime rival Kyoko Kimura in a Street Fighting Spirit Death Match.

[51] During the next month, Tamura went on a retirement tour across the Japanese independent circuit, which saw her successfully defend the NEO Single and NWA Women's Pacific Championships against Yumi Ohka in Pro Wrestling Wave,[52] Kaori Yoneyama in JWP Joshi Puroresu,[53] and Hikaru Shida in Ice Ribbon.

[54] Tamura also successfully defended the titles in NEO against Emi Sakura and Aya Yuki to ensure that she would head to her final night in professional wrestling as the champion.

[4][7] Tamura made her acting debut in the 2009 film Three Count, where she played the role of a professional wrestling trainer, working alongside Emi Sakura, Kyoko Inoue and Hikaru Shida.