Kayako Tōjō started under the name Kayako Yamada in 2002 with the skeleton sport and has been part of the Japanese national team since 2003. Tōjō played her first international race in December 2003 as part of the Skeleton America's Cup in Calgary , where she was 26th. Until November 2006, Tōjō started internationally exclusively in the America's Cup. Best result was an eleventh place in November 2005 in Park City . A year later she made her debut in the same position in the Skeleton World Cup and reached 24 in her first race. After that, she only took part in one more race the following month, in which she was 26th. In the overall ranking of the World Cup in the 2006/07 season , she finished 38th. Nationally , she won the Japanese championship in 2003, and in 2006 Tōjō was third behind Eiko Nakayama and Natsuko Naka .