He did not qualify for the 1984 Summer Olympics and his next international outings were in 1985. At the 1985 Asian Athletics Championships he became the third Japanese man to lift the steeplechase title, finishing half a second ahead of Taiwan's defending champion Hwang Wen-Cheng to match the feat of Takaharu Koyama and Masanari Shintaku. This earned him the honour of being Asia's representative in the event at the 1985 IAAF World Cup. At the event in Canberra, he finished well down the field, coming last in eighth place with a time of 8:55.35 minutes (well short of his best). The following year he won his first national title at the Japan Championships in Athletics. He became a double reigning continental champion through a gold medal-winning performance at the 1986 Asian Games. His time of 8:36.98 minutes was an Asian Games record. He made it a sixth consecutive win for Japan in that event, which dated back to Taketsugu Saruwatari's 1966 win.