On February 5, 2006 at the Kagawa Marugame Half Marathon she broke the 15-kilometre road running record by running the distance in 46:55 minutes. Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia improved the record to 46:28 minutes in 2009. During the race in Marugame she also set the Asian record in the half marathon. She had more success on home turf soon after with a win at the Fukuoka International Cross Country. She competed at the 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, also held in Fukuoka, and took sixth place in the long race – one of only two non-East African runners to make the top ten. Her finish also led the Japanese women to the bronze medal in the team competition. She claimed a bronze on the track at the 2006 IAAF World Cup, coming third over 5000 m and took the 10,000 m gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games – her first major championship win.