Higashino was born inIwamizawa, graduated from the Tomioka Senior High School, and joined the Unisys team in 2015.[4][8]
Higashino was selected to join national junior team, competed at the2014 Asian Junior Championships, and helped the team win the bronze medal.[9] At theWorld Junior Championships in Alor Setar, Malaysia, she won the bronze medals in the mixed doubles event withYuta Watanabe and in the mixed team event.[10][11] In June 2014, she made her first appearance in the senior international event at theJapan Open, competed in the mixed doubles with Watanabe, but the duo was defeated in the first round. She reached her first final in the senior international event at the2015 Russian Open aBWF Grand Prix tournament, where she and her partner Watanabe were defeated by Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying.[12]
In 2016, Higashino won her first senior title atVietnam International Challenge in the mixed doubles paired-up with Watanabe.[13] In 2017, Higashino and Watanabe have sufficient ranking points to entered the Superseries stage, and able to reached the semi-finals in theAll England Open.[14]
2018: Break to top 5 BWF rankings, All England Open title
Significant progress occurs in 2018 season. Higashino with her partner Watanabe in the mixed doubles are able to break the international doubles stage by reaching third in the BWF rankings. Higashino and Watanabe became the first mixed doubles from Japan to win theAll England Open since the tournament was first contested in 1899.[15] En route to the finals, they beating the top three seeds,[16] and then clinched the title after defeating the fifth seeded pairZheng Siwei andHuang Yaqiong in the rubber game.[15] Both also won theHong Kong Open after beating Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping in the finals. It was their first win over the world silver medallists in six meetings.[17] Besides that, the duo finished in the semi-finals at theMalaysia,Japan,French, andFuzhou China Opens;[18][19][20][21] as well in the year-end tournamentBWF World Tour Finals.[22] Higashino also part of the Japanese national team that won the gold medal in theAsian Games.[23][24]
In the first half of the 2019 season, Higashino and Watanabe has won a title in theMalaysia Masters.[25] She reached the finals in theAll England Open, losing to Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong.[26] Together with the National team, she won the silver medal at theAsia Mixed Team Championships and at theSudirman Cup.[27][28] In the second half of 2019 season, Higashino added a cap by defending theHong Kong Open title,[29] and became a finalists in theThailand Open.[30] Their journey in the remainder of the season does look quite difficult. In four meetings against Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, they only managed to win once, in the group stage of the World Tour Finals;[31] the rest were losses in the semi-finals of theWorld Championships,French Open andWorld Tour Finals.[32][33] The head-to-head record between the pairs stood at 2–8.[34]
Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, numerous tournaments on the2020 BWF World Tour were either cancelled or rescheduled for later in the year. Higashino competed in the national events in December, and managed to claim his fourth mixed doubles consecutive title at theJapanese National Championships with Watanabe.[35]
2021: Second All England title, Olympic bronze, and World Championships silver
In 2022, Higashino only won a title, where she and her partner, Watanabe, successfully to defend theAll England Open in March.[43] Furthermore, she and her partner won the silver medal in theWorld Championships defeating by Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong in the finals,[44] and a bronze medal in theAsian Championships defeating by Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping in the semi-finals.[45] Another results that they achieved in 2022 were the finalists in theIndonesia andJapan Opens.[46][47] Higashino and Watanabe then reached their career high as world number 1 in the BWF mixed doubles ranking on 8 November 2022.[48]
Higashino started the 2023 season by competing in theMalaysia Open, where she and her partner, Watanabe, finished as the finalists.[49] In the following week, they emerged as a champion in theIndia Open, after their opponent Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping withdrawn from the final match.[50] In March, they unable to defend theirAll England Open title, since Watanabe struggling with injury in the second round against Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun.[51] Higashino helps the national team advanced to the knocked out stage in theSudirman Cup,[52] where the team finished in the semi-finals.[53] In June, Higashino and Watanabe reached the finals in theSingapore andIndonesia Opens.[54][55] In the next tournaments, they stopped in the quarter-finals of theCanada Open to Taiwanese pairing Lee Jhe-huei and Hsu Ya-ching,[56] and then in the semi-finals of theKorea Open to Chinese rising star Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin.[57] The duo then won theJapan Open, becoming the first ever Japanaese pairing to claimed the Japan Open title since it was first contested in 1982.[58] They clinched the bronze medal in theWorld Championships defeating by Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung in the semi-finals.[59] She competed in the2022 Asian Games, won a silver in the mixed doubles and a gold in the women's team event.[60] In the rest of the season, Higashino and Watanabe finished as the semi-finalists in theFrench Open,[61]Japan Masters,[62] as well in the year-end finals tournament theWorld Tour Finals.[63]
Higashino and Watanabe began the 2024 season by winning theMalaysia Open.[64] In the first half of the season, they reached the final of theAll England Open,[65] and the quarterfinals of theIndia Open,[66]French Open,[67] andAsian Championships.[68] Leading up to the Paris Olympics, the pair experienced early-round losses at theSingapore andIndonesia Opens.[69][70] Higashino then made her second Olympic appearance at2024 Paris Olympics, where she and Watanabe won another bronze medal, defeating South Korea's Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung in the bronze medal match.[7] Following a quarterfinal loss at theJapan Open shortly after the Olympics, Higashino ended her 13-year partnership with Watanabe.[71]
Following the Olympics, Higashino married and began competing under her married name, Arisa Igarashi.[72] She announced a focus on women's doubles and formed a new partnership withAyako Sakuramoto.[73] The pair debuted on the BWF World Tour at theJapan Masters in November, losing in the second round to Olympic bronze medalistsNami Matsuyama andChiharu Shida.[74] Concluding the year, they reached the final of theAll Japan Badminton Championships in December, where they were again defeated by Matsuyama and Shida; this performance secured their selection to the Japanese National Team for 2025.[75]
In January 2025, Igarashi and Sakuramoto secured their first title as a pair at the Super 750India Open, defeating Olympic silver medalistsLiu Shengshu andTan Ning of China in the quarterfinals, andKim Hye-jeong andKong Hee-yong of South Korea in the final.[76][77] The following month, at theAsia Mixed Team Championships, their final tournament together as a pair, they won their women's doubles match against China'sChen Qingchen andWang Tingge.[78] Their partnership was officially dissolved in April 2025, a decision made by the players in March after approximately six months together. Igarashi announced her intention to continue competing in women's doubles with a new partner.[79] On 8 July, it was announced that Igarashi would form a new partnership withChiharu Shida, an Olympic bronze medalist. The new pair debuted at theHong Kong Open in September, following the conclusion of Shida's partnership withNami Matsuyama at theWorld Championships in August.[80][81]
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[83] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by theBadminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.[84]
^Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018)."Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation.Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved15 January 2018.
Yuta Watanabe
Tang Chun Man
Bronze
Seo Seung-jae
Zheng Siwei
Bronze
Dechapol Puavaranukroh
Silver
Winner
Runner-up
Mathias Christiansen
Chan Peng Soon
