Tanaka was born in Matsumoto on July 31, 1982. He played for Yokohama Flügels youth team. However Flügels was merged with cross-town Yokohama Marinos (later "Yokohama F. Marinos") and Flügels was dissolved end of 1998 season. So, he moved to Yokohama F. Marinos youth team. He was promoted to Yokohama F. Marinos top team in 2000. He debuted in 2000 Emperor's Cup. He played many matches as defensive midfielder in 2001 season and Marinos won the champions in 2001 J.League Cup. However he could hardly play in the match in 2002. In June 2002, He moved to Tokyo Verdy on loan. He was converted to right side back and became a regular player. However his opportunity to play decreased behind Masayuki Yanagisawa in 2003. In 2004, Tanaka returned to Yokohama F. Marinos. He became a regular player as right side midfielder from summer and Marinos won the champions 2004 J1 League. From 2005, he played more than 30 games every season until 2008. In 2009, Tanaka moved to Nagoya Grampus. He became a regular player as right side-back soon under manager Dragan Stojković. In 2010, Grampus won the champions in J1 League first time in the club history. In 2011, Grampus also won the 2nd place in J1 League. In 2014, he moved to his local club Matsumoto Yamaga FC in J2 League. He was given number "3" shirt, which Tanaka's teammate at Marinos, Naoki Matsuda wore. Tanaka played as regular player and won the 2nd place and was promoted to J1 first time in the club history. In 2015 season, although he played all 34 matches, the club finished at the 16th place of 18 clubs and was relegated to J2 in a year.