He did not run over the distance in 2002 and entered shorter races instead. He was fourth at the Yamaguchi half marathon (setting a best of 61:53 minutes), then led the Japanese team to the team silver at the 2002 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, taking eighth in another personal best of 61:37 minutes. Returning to Japan he set a 5000 m best of 13:37.97 to win at the Nobeoka Golden Games. At the Japanese Track and Field Championships he was the runner-up in the 10,000 metres and subsequently represented Japan at the 2002 Asian Games, taking sixth place.