He was part of the
Japan U23 national team at
2004 Olympics, which finished fourth in group B, below group winners
Paraguay,
Italy and
Ghana. He also capped for
Japan U20 team at the
2003 World Youth Championship. On 3 August 2005, he made his debut for the
senior national team in an
East Asian Cup match against
China which ended in a 2–2 draw. He earned a second cap four days later, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 win over
South Korea. Later that year he came on as a second-half substitute in the 1–0 home victory over
Iran in a 2006 World Cup qualifier. Konno wouldn't play again for his country until after the 2006 World Cup Finals, playing in the 1–0 home friendly defeat to
Ghana in October 2006 and the 2007 Asian Cup qualifying wins over
India, later that month, and
Saudi Arabia in November. It would be another seven months before he next pulled on the blue of Japan, playing in the home friendly win over
Montenegro and the draw with
Colombia in June 2007. His performances in those games earned him a spot in Japan's squad for the
2007 Asian Cup and he played three times as they finished in 4th place following a 3–2 semi-final defeat to Saudi Arabia and a penalty shootout loss to South Korea in the 3rd / 4th place play off. He played three more non-competitive matches in 2007; against
Qatar,
Austria and
Egypt. In February 2008 he was selected in the squad for the
East Asian Football Championship and played in the 1–0 win over China and the 1–1 draw with South Korea as Japan ended up in 2nd place in the final standings. 2008 turned out to be a busy year for him internationally as he played a further four friendly matches and 6 2010 World Cup qualifiers. He played seven times in 2009, the first appearance coming as a second-half replacement in the 5–1 thrashing of
Finland in February which was followed up by a start in the 4–0 win against
Chile in May. He played twice the following month in the World Cup Qualifiers against Qatar and
Australia. The matches did not turn out well for the Samurai Blue who could only draw 1–1 at home to Qatar before going down 2–1 away to Australia seven days later. Japan were back on form later in the year, defeating
Scotland and
Togo in October with Konno starting the first and coming on in the second half of the latter before also appearing as a substitute the following month in a 0–0 draw away to World Cup hosts
South Africa. The following year he was selected in Japan's squad for the
2010 World Cup in South Africa and handed the number 15 jersey. He only got on the field for 2 minutes in the entire tournament, replacing
Yoshito Ōkubo in the 88th minute of Japan's 3–1 Group E win over
Denmark in
Rustenburg which sealed their qualification to the last 16 where they'd go on to be eliminated by
Paraguay on penalties. 2011 saw him named in the squad for the
2011 Asian Cup in
Qatar where this time he wore the number 4 on his back. He played every minute of all six of Japan's matches at the tournament as they went on to lift the title, defeating Australia 1–0 after extra time in the final thanks to
Tadanari Lee's 109th-minute winner. Later in the year he scored his first international goal, a 36th-minute opener in the 4–0 win away to
Tajikistan in a 2014 World Cup qualifier on 11 November. He played eight internationals in 2012, a mixture of friendlies and World Cup qualifiers before being chosen in the Japan squad for the
2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil the following year. He started all three of the Samurai Blue's games at the tournament which all ended in defeat and saw them finish below
Brazil,
Italy and
Mexico in the Group A standings. In 2014 he played in his second
World Cup, this time in Brazil. Japan were drawn in Group C along with
Colombia,
Greece and
Ivory Coast and finished in 4th place with 1 draw and 2 defeats. Konno didn't play in the opening 2–1 defeat to the Ivory Coast, but started the 0–0 draw with Greece and the 4–1 defeat to Colombia. He would play only a further ten matches for his country across three years after the 2014 World Cup, however he did manage to increase his international goal tally to four thanks to strikes in the 2–1 home friendly win over Australia in November 2014, the 2–0 away victory over the
United Arab Emirates in a 2018 World Cup qualifier in March 2017 and finally in a 1–1 friendly draw at home to
Syria on 7 June 2017. He played 93 games and scored four goals for Japan until 2017. ==Career statistics==