Kawabata first received his license at 18 and at that point he bought a
Nissan 180SX. He practiced alone until he met late D1 driver
Atsushi Kuroi who started to teach and advise Kawabata. At age 19, Kawabata entered a drift magazine sponsored contest and took first place. At 21, GP Sports started to sponsor Kawabata with a full line of aero parts and later he worked for them moving from his hometown to
Niigata where GP Sports was based.
D1 Grand Prix In 2002, Kawabata win the Advan Drift Meeting event at Ebisu circuit where he acquired D1GP license. In the same year, he debut at round 4 of D1 Grand Prix which also held at Ebisu circuit. He would continued compete as privateer with support from GP Sports. In 2004, Kawabata was hired by Trust to replace Hideo Hiraoka and drove an S15 Silvia built by GP Sports. On his third season with the team, he took his first win at
Fuji Speedway in and went on to finish 4th in the overall points. For 2007, Kawabata drive for Toyo Tires who entered D1GP as works team but continued to drive the same S15 from previous year. Initially Toyo wanted Kawabata mentor Atsushi Kuroi as lead driver, however Kuroi suggest Kawabata instead. he did even better however and despite a crash in Fuji with Daigo Saito where Kawabata suffers a concussion, he win two rounds and dramatically win the overall title by one point over
Nobushige Kumakubo who loses his semifinal battle against
Yoshinori Koguchi. In 2008 after he win the opening round, he change his car to 180SX in second round in Fuji however he would struggle with the car and ended sixth in standings. In years following he would consistently win at least 1 round in every season including the final round of 2009 season which would be his and Atsushi Kuroi last competitive battle in D1GP before Kuroi died in 2010.In 2013 Kawabata win his second title following two Solo and Overall win at Ebisu and Odaiba and become the first driver to win both Solo and Overall championship since the Solo Run championship is awarded in 2011. In 2014
TRUST return and collaborate with Toyo Tires and he started to participate in D1GP with
Nissan GT-R in 2014 and also left GP Sports in same year. The following year the Kawabata clinched his third D1GP title before the final round becoming second driver to do so. 2016 was difficult year for him as
Daigo Saito went to dominate the series. Despite able to beat Saito in exhibition event he went winless for the second time in 3 years and he finished the season second in standings. He also started his own shop called True Man Racing (True Man is rough English translation of his name) and collaborating with fellow D1 driver
Hideyuki Fujino they released a bodykit for
Nissan 180SX called Kick Blue. Following the defeat from previous year Trust built Kawabata new GT-R for 2017 season while his previous car was driven by returning
Masao Suenaga, Toyo Tires as tires sponsor also released new Proxes R888R for competition. He win the third round in Tsukuba which his only win in the season, he end the season 5th in standings. In 2018 Kawabata win 6 straight Solo Run creating a new record but unfortunately in Battle Run he failed to win a single round and lost the D1GP title to
Masashi Yokoi. In 2019, following Trust withdrawal he competing in the D1GP with
Toyota GR Supra and became the first person to win D1GP round with it the following year. Unfortunately his performance worsened as the season progressed. He change his car to new
Toyota GR86 in 2022 built by his teammate Hideyuki Fujino where he gave GR86 first ever win in Drift competition, finished the season as runner-up claiming two wins and the Solo Run champions. He won a single round in both 2023 and 2024 season.
Other drifting competition Kawabata rarely compete outside of D1GP and Japan but he regularly compete in D1GP oversea competition. With D1GP expansion to China, Kawabata compete in D1GP China with his own built car. After coming third in inaugural season, he win the championship the following year an continued to compete until series is stopped after 2018. With D1GP reviving its overseas expansion, Kawabata start to compete in D1GP Thailand and Southeast Asia for Drive to Drift which is a team formed by his former teammate and Thai driver Daychapon Toyingcharoen. In 2023 he win the D1GP Southeast Asia title after competing in all Thailand and Malaysian round of the series. Kawabata compete in the inaugural FIA Intercontinental Drift Cup at Odaiba which is the first drifting competition held under
FIA driving the same Nissan GT-R he use in D1GP where he become the inaugural champion after winning the first leg and runner-up in second leg. He continued to compete in the next two edition of the competition but unable to reclaim the championship. In 2019 Kawabata compete for Forward Auto in Russia Drift Series GP driving a 180SX however due to COVID-19 pandemics he's unable to compete in 2020. He returned to the competition in 2021 once again driving 180SX but he personally built it himself. Unfortunately he is unable to participate for full season due to travel restrictions.
Outside of drifting Rally raid Kawabata make his rallying debut at 2019 Asia Cross Country Rally driving for Flex Show Aikawa Racing with Toyo Tires driving a Toyota Land Cruiser where he finished second in class. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the team unable to compete until 2024 where Kawabata return now with fellow D1GP driver Daychapon Toyingcharoen as his co-driver. The pair won their class and finished and sixteenth overall.
Endurance racing Kawabata make his endurance racing debut at 2018
25 Hours of Thunderhill driving a Nissan GT-R NISMO. He returned to the competition the following year this time driving an Audi R8 GT4. In 2025, Kawabata debut in
Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie driving a Toyota Supra in VT2-RWD claas in round 1 and 6 and aiming to compete in Nurburgring 24 hours race the following year. He returned to NLS the following year for the opening round but due to bad weather the race is cancelled. His position is replaced by his D1GP teammate Hideyuki Fujino at the following round due to his commitment in Asia Cross Country Rally. ==2007 Fuji Speedway accident==