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. == Personal life ==