Fukushi was fourth over 5000 m at the 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics and had a breakout year two years later. After a fifteenth-place finish in the senior section of the 2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, she broke national junior records (over 3000 m, 5000 m and 10,000 m) and then went on to record an out-right national record of 8:44.40 minutes in the 3000 m that July.