After entering the February 2012 New Japan tryouts and making his debut opposite Takaaki Watanabe on the November 15 NEVER event, SHO would make a name for himself with a spirited undercard rivalry with Yohei Komatsu. In January 2016, headed to Mexico, and that September, to America to gain worldwide experience and hone his skills, forming the Tempura Boyz tag team with Komatsu.

SHO returned to New Japan on October 9, 2017. With YOH, and under the tutelage of Rocky Romero, he formed Roppongi 3K. That same night, defeated Ricochet and Ryusuke Taguchi to become half of the 54th IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. SHO and YOH would also win the annual junior heavyweight tag team tournament, in both elimination and league format, two years in a row. They would hold the IWGP Junior Tag Team Championships twice more in the coming years, but as of spring 2019, had yet to make a successful defence of the titles. Nevertheless, RPG3K were an impressive, spectacular and charismatic tag team. SHO also showed his potential as a singles competitor. A spirited run in the 2018 Best of the Super Junior saw fans respect SHO as a junior heavyweight powerhouse, a status he carried into a hard hitting rivalry with Shingo Takagi.