Yamada, who has been part of the Japanese national ski jumping team since 2000, made his world cup debut as a jumper in the national group at the World Cup jumping on January 22, 2000 in Sapporo . He finished jumping in 46th place. The following season he jumped in the FIS Grand Prix . In the 2001/02 season he jumped in the Continental Cup , but was repeatedly taken to the senior national squad for World Cup jumping. At the World Cup jumping on January 1, 2002 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen as part of the Four Hills Tournament , he was able to achieve his best individual result to date with fourth place on the large hill. After further World Cups with top 10 placements and a 2nd place in the team competition in Sapporo, Yamada was added to the squad for the 2002 Olympic Games. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City , he reached 33rd place in individual jumping on the large hill and 5th in team jumping together with Masahiko Harada , Hideharu Miyahira and Kazuyoshi Funaki . In the season following the games he jumped again in the FIS Grand Prix , but could not achieve any points after various top 40 placements. In the following 2002/03 Continental Cup season, however, he was able to improve his performance again. He achieved his best result with a 2nd place in jumping on July 19, 2003 in Calgary , Canada . Thereupon he was accepted into the national A team and was able to convince with a 10th place in Kuusamo on the large hill at the first competition of the 2003/04 season and an 11th place in the same place the next day. However, only mediocre results followed, which is why he was removed from the senior national team at the end of 2005 and has only competed in the Continental Cup and the FIS Cup since then . He only occasionally takes part in World Cup competitions in Japan.