After losing the national title to Tamie Motegi in 1978, her breakthrough year came in the 1979 track and field season. She set a championship record of 13.81 seconds to regain her Japanese crown. She was her country's leading hurdles entrant at the 1979 Asian Athletics Championships, held on home turf in Tokyo, and won the gold medal with a championship record of 14.17 seconds, comfortably ahead of China's Dai Jianhua and her compatriot Motegi. A global debut followed at the 1979 IAAF World Cup in Montreal, where she placed eighth as Asia's representative.