osada showed much promise as a young skater in her mid-teen years. osada participated in her first international competition as an alternate for another skater, megumi aotani, at 1980 enia challenge cup in the netherlands at the age of 15. there, she landed three triples, a salchow, a toe loop, and a loop in her free skate, which equaled or exceeded the difficulty of the top male skaters back then. although her poor standings in compulsories caused her to place 6th overall, she received the special rookie award alongside poland's 14-ear-old grzegorz filipowski. then, in october 1982, osada placed a close 2nd behind midori ito at all japan free championships in kobe, which was followed by a surprise 4th-place finish at the nhk trophy in tokyo, where she placed behind katarina witt, rosalyn sumners, and tiffany chin while finishing ahead of world medalists such as claudia leistner and elizabeth manley.