Arisa Higashino

is a Japanese badminton player. She won bronze in the mixed team event at the Asian Junior Championships in 2013 and 2014, and competed at the 2014 World Junior Championships, winning two bronzes in the mixed doubles and team event. and had also won 2 consecutive bronze medals in mixed doubles at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics.

Career Higashino was born in Iwamizawa, graduated from the Tomioka Senior High School, and joined the Unisys team in 2015.

Higashino was selected to join national junior team, competed at the 2014 Asian Junior Championships, and helped the team win the bronze medal. At the World Junior Championships in Alor Setar, Malaysia, she won the bronze medals in the mixed doubles event with Yuta Watanabe and in the mixed team event. In June 2014, she made her first appearance in the senior international event at the Japan 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 the 2015 Russian Open a BWF Grand Prix tournament, where she and her partner Watanabe were defeated by Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying.

In 2016, Higashino won her first senior title at Vietnam International Challenge in the mixed doubles paired-up with Watanabe. In 2017, Higashino and Watanabe have sufficient ranking points to entered the Superseries stage, and able to reached the semi-finals in the All England Open.

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 the All England Open since the tournament was first contested in 1899. En route to the finals, they beating the top three seeds, and then clinched the title after defeating the fifth seeded pair Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong in the rubber game. Besides that, the duo finished in the semi-finals at the Malaysia, Japan, French, and Fuzhou China Opens; as well in the year-end tournament BWF World Tour Finals. Higashino also part of the Japanese national team that won the gold medal in the Asian Games.

2019–2020: World Championships bronze In the first half of the 2019 season, Higashino and Watanabe has won a title in the Malaysia Masters. She reached the finals in the All England Open, losing to Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong. Together with the National team, she won the silver medal at the Asia Mixed Team Championships and at the Sudirman Cup. In the second half of 2019 season, Higashino added a cap by defending the Hong Kong Open title, and became a finalists in the Thailand Open. 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; the rest were losses in the semi-finals of the World Championships, French Open and World Tour Finals. The head-to-head record between the pairs stood at 2–8.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous tournaments on the 2020 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 the Japanese National Championships with Watanabe.

2021: Second All England title, Olympic bronze, and World Championships silver In March, Higashino and Watanabe won the mixed doubles title in the All England Open. In July, she competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the mixed doubles with Watanabe, After the Olympics, Watanabe and Higashino reached five finals, winning the Denmark and French Opens, and became a finalist in the Indonesia Open, World Tour Finals, and also at the World Championships.

2022–2023: World #1, third All England title, and first Japanese mixed doubles to win the Japan Open In 2022, Higashino only won a title, where she and her partner, Watanabe, successfully to defend the All England Open in March. Furthermore, she and her partner won the silver medal in the World Championships defeating by Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong in the finals, and a bronze medal in the Asian Championships defeating by Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping in the semi-finals. Another results that they achieved in 2022 were the finalists in the Indonesia and Japan Opens. Higashino and Watanabe then reached their career high as world number 1 in the BWF mixed doubles ranking on 8 November 2022.

Higashino started the 2023 season by competing in the Malaysia Open, where she and her partner, Watanabe, finished as the finalists. In the following week, they emerged as a champion in the India Open, after their opponent Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping withdrawn from the final match. In March, they unable to defend their All England Open title, since Watanabe struggling with injury in the second round against Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun. Higashino helps the national team advanced to the knocked out stage in the Sudirman Cup, where the team finished in the semi-finals. In June, Higashino and Watanabe reached the finals in the Singapore and Indonesia Opens. In the next tournaments, they stopped in the quarter-finals of the Canada Open to Taiwanese pairing Lee Jhe-huei and Hsu Ya-ching, and then in the semi-finals of the Korea Open to Chinese rising star Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin. The duo then won the Japan Open, becoming the first ever Japanaese pairing to claimed the Japan Open title since it was first contested in 1982. They clinched the bronze medal in the World Championships defeating by Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung in the semi-finals. She competed in the 2022 Asian Games, won a silver in the mixed doubles and a gold in the women's team event. In the rest of the season, Higashino and Watanabe finished as the semi-finalists in the French Open, Japan Masters, as well in the year-end finals tournament the World Tour Finals.

2024 Higashino and Watanabe began the 2024 season by winning the Malaysia Open. In the first half of the season, they reached the final of the All England Open, and the quarterfinals of the India Open, French Open, and Asian Championships. Leading up to the Paris Olympics, the pair experienced early-round losses at the Singapore and Indonesia Opens. Higashino then made her second Olympic appearance at 2024 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.

Following the Olympics, Higashino married and began competing under her married name, Arisa Igarashi. She announced a focus on women's doubles and formed a new partnership with Ayako Sakuramoto. The pair debuted on the BWF World Tour at the Japan Masters in November, losing in the second round to Olympic bronze medalists Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida. Concluding the year, they reached the final of the All 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.

2025 In January 2025, Igarashi and Sakuramoto secured their first title as a pair at the Super 750 India Open, defeating Olympic silver medalists Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning of China in the quarterfinals, and Kim Hye-jeong and Kong Hee-yong of South Korea in the final. The following month, at the Asia Mixed Team Championships, their final tournament together as a pair, they won their women's doubles match against China's Chen Qingchen and Wang Tingge. 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. On 8 July, it was announced that Igarashi would form a new partnership with Chiharu Shida, an Olympic bronze medalist. The new pair debuted at the Hong Kong Open in September, following the conclusion of Shida's partnership with Nami Matsuyama at the World Championships in August.

2026 In early 2026, Igarashi reached the final of the Indonesia Masters while briefly partnering with Miyu Takahashi, though they finished as runners-up via walkover.

Personal life On 28 August 2024, she announced her marriage to former badminton player, Yu Igarashi.

Achievements

Olympic Games Mixed doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result Ref

is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton 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.

Women's doubles Year Tournament Level Partner Opponent Score Result Ref 2025 India Open Super 750 Ayako Sakuramoto Kim Hye-jeong Kong Hee-yong 21–15, 21–13 Winner

Mixed doubles Year Tournament Level Partner Opponent Score Result Ref 2018 All England Open Super 1000 Yuta Watanabe Zheng Siwei Huang Yaqiong 15–21, 22–20, 21–16 Winner 2018 Hong Kong Open Super 500 Yuta Watanabe Wang Yilyu Huang Dongping 21–18, 21–14 Winner 2019 Malaysia Masters Super 500 Yuta Watanabe Dechapol Puavaranukroh Sapsiree Taerattanachai 21–18, 21–18 Winner 2019 All England Open Super 1000 Yuta Watanabe Zheng Siwei Huang Yaqiong 17–21, 20–22 Runner-up 2019 Thailand Open Super 500 Yuta Watanabe Wang Yilyu Huang Dongping 22–24, 21–23 Runner-up 2019 Hong Kong Open Super 500 Yuta Watanabe He Jiting Du Yue 22–20, 21–16 Winner 2021 All England Open Super 1000 Yuta Watanabe Yuki Kaneko Misaki Matsutomo 21–14, 21–13 Winner 2021 Denmark Open Super 1000 Yuta Watanabe Dechapol Puavaranukroh Sapsiree Taerattanachai 21–18, 21–9 Winner 2021 French Open Super 750 Yuta Watanabe Mathias Christiansen Alexandra Bøje 21–8, 21–17 Winner 2021 Indonesia Open Super 1000 Yuta Watanabe Dechapol Puavaranukroh Sapsiree Taerattanachai 12–21, 13–21 Runner-up 2021 BWF World Tour Finals World Tour Finals Yuta Watanabe Dechapol Puavaranukroh Sapsiree Taerattanachai 19–21, 11–21 Runner-up 2022 All England Open Super 1000 Yuta Watanabe Wang Yilyu Huang Dongping 21–19, 21–19 Winner 2022 Indonesia Open Super 1000 Yuta Watanabe Zheng Siwei Huang Yaqiong 14–21, 16–21 Runner-up 2022 Japan Open Super 750 Yuta Watanabe Dechapol Puavaranukroh Sapsiree Taerattanachai 21–16, 21–23, 18–21 Runner-up 2023 Malaysia Open Super 1000 Yuta Watanabe Zheng Siwei Huang Yaqiong 19–21, 11–21 Runner-up 2023 India Open Super 750 Yuta Watanabe Wang Yilyu Huang Dongping Walkover Winner 2023 Singapore Open Super 750 Yuta Watanabe Mathias Christiansen Alexandra Bøje 14–21, 22–20, 16–21 Runner-up 2023 Indonesia Open Super 1000 Yuta Watanabe Zheng Siwei Huang Yaqiong 14–21, 11–21 Runner-up 2023 Japan Open Super 750 Yuta Watanabe Dechapol Puavaranukroh Sapsiree Taerattanachai 17–21, 21–16, 21–15 Winner 2024 Malaysia Open Super 1000 Yuta Watanabe Kim Won-ho Jeong Na-eun 21–18, 21–15 Winner 2024 All England Open Super 1000 Yuta Watanabe Zheng Siwei Huang Yaqiong 16–21, 11–21 Runner-up

BWF Grand Prix (1 runner-up) The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017.

Mixed doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result Ref 2015 Russian Open Yuta Watanabe Chan Peng Soon Goh Liu Ying 13–21, 21–23 Runner-up BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (1 title) Mixed doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result Ref 2016 Vietnam International Yuta Watanabe Tinn Isriyanet Pacharapun Chochuwong 21–16, 21–14 Winner BWF International Challenge tournament