The 2003 season saw her reach new heights as she retained her national heptathlon title with a Japanese record of 5910 points. An international senior medal followed later that year at the 2003 Asian Athletics Championships where she was runner-up to Kazakh athlete Irina Naumenko. She won the inaugural gold medal in the women's pentathlon at the 2004 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships. She was on top form at the Japanese Athletics Championships, winning a third straight title with another national record of 5962 points. She became the first Japanese woman to enter the Olympic heptathlon at the 2004 Athens Games, but she did not match her performance from earlier that season and came 28th (last) with a total of 4871 points.