Career
He plays as a scrum-half for Japan on international level and for the Panasonic Wild Knights, Otago and the Highlanders at domestic level Tanaka was not seen as one of the top prospects in Japan whilst at University, but after joining the Panasonic Wild Knights in 2007 he played alongside former All Blacks fly half Tony Brown who was credited with helping him to develop immensely and Tanaka himself cites Brown as one of the most important influences on his career. After Tanaka"s first season in the Top League in 2007/08, he was named in the team of the season alongside Brown and also was named as newcomer of the year.
After his first season in the Top League.
Tanaka made his debut for Japan against the Arabian Gulf in May 2008 coming off the bench. At domestic level, after being named in the Top League team of the season in his first year, he backed that up by being named in it again in 2008/09 and 2010/11.
After performing well at the World Cup despite it being a disappointing tournament for Japan, along with hooker Shota Horie he was signed by Otago and reunited with Tony Brown, his former teammate at the Panasonic Wild Knights who was now his coach. Following his good performances with Otago, he became the first ethnic Japanese player to sign a Super Rugby contract when he was named in the Highlanders squad for the 2013 season.
After signing for the Highlanders, there was significant international media interest in him as the first Japanese player to play Super Rugby.
He was said to have most interview requests out of anybody in the Highlanders team and attracted more attention than many of the World Cup winners in the squad. Japanese television channels Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai and WOWOW did documentaries on his time in New Zealand, he also received a segment on Institutional Review Board Total Rugby and even made the pages of the New York Times. After initially being limited to mainly to substitute appearances behind All Blacks scrum half Aaron Smith, in Tanaka"s second start in Super Rugby he was highly praised for his performance against the Blues which even drew praise from the Institutional Review Board Chief Executive Officer Brett Gosper.
He was also instrumental to the Japanese 32-34 victory over the Springboks in the 2015 Rugby World cup.
