In 1987, Hokuto won the AJW's top tag team belt, the WWWA World Tag Team Championship paired with Yumiko Hotta. Twelve days later, however, the two lost the titles to the Red Typhoons (Kazue Nagahori and Yumi Ogura) in a two out of three falls match. During the finish of the first fall, Hokuto took a tombstone piledriver off the second rope and broke her neck. She wrestled the entirety of the second and third falls, sometimes holding her head in place with her hands. This gained Hokuto a reputation for toughness.