In 2006, she won the first Japanese women's steeplechase title and was Asia's representative in the event at the 2006 IAAF World Cup. She also ran at the World Cross Country that year, her final outing at the competition, and finished 77th. She repeated as national champion the year after and ran a Japanese record time of 9:38.68 minutes (her Asian record had been bettered by a number of Chinese runners). She was again selected for the national team at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, held in Osaka, but she fell mid-race and had to be stretchered off the track. She became Japan's first Olympic representative in the women's steeplechase at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and also improved her national record that year, running 9:33.93 minutes at the FBK Games. The year after she ran her season's best of 9:39.28 minutes in the heats of the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, then was runner-up to Li Zhenzhu at the 2009 East Asian Games.