[3][4] Tabuse, who was born in Yokohama and grew up in what he calls "a sports family", began playing basketball at the age of nine, because he was not good at baseball and not interested in soccer.

[5] He attended Noshiro Technical High School in Akita Prefecture, where he led his team to national championships all three years he was there and lost only a single game.

[4][6] After graduation from high school in March 1999, Tabuse chose to enroll at Brigham Young University-Hawaii for its English as an International Language program.

Tabuse returned to join the Toyota Alvark, with whom he won the Japan Basketball League Rookie of the Year award for the 2002–03 season.

On September 27 of that year, Tabuse joined the Denver Nuggets' training camp,[7][8] but he was waived on October 24,[8] before the start of the regular season.

[14] That year, he was drafted by the Albuquerque Thunderbirds of the NBA Development League (D-League) and averaged 6.5 points and 4.0 assists in 34 games before he was waived on March 16, 2006.

[15] Michael Cooper, former NBA player and Tabuse's coach with the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, said of him, "He automatically changes the game because of his quickness and distributing the ball.

[25] In May 2009, ESPN reported that Tabuse would leave the national team after receiving an invitation by the Dallas Mavericks to compete in their summer camp.