[2] She made her international debut two years later at the 1998 Asian Athletics Championships, finishing ninth, and returned to the competition in 2000, improving to sixth place.

[5] She was on top form at the Japanese Athletics Championships, winning a third straight title with another national record of 5962 points.

[3] She became the first Japanese woman to enter the Olympic heptathlon at the 2004 Athens Games, but she did not match her performance from earlier that season and came 28th (last) with a total of 4871 points.

[9] She fared better outdoors, winning the heptathlon and coming fifth in the long jump at the Japanese nationals and going on to finish just behind bronze medalist J. J. Shobha at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.

She finished the heptathlon competition with a score of 5869 points, which included a personal best of 2:17.61 minutes in the final 800 metres event.