Iijima took on her first stage role in May 2010 with the play , playing a receptionist at a bank where a hostage crisis occurs. Also in the "suspenseful comedy" was actor Masahiko Nishimura who had previously worked with Iijima in the 1998 TV series "Sometime Somewhere". In early 2013, Iijima shared top billing with Aya Ueto in the NHK ten part television series about two women who meet in prison, one (Ueto) who committed a crime for her lover while the other (Iijima) killed her abusive husband. The series, based on the books by Asa Nonami, follows the lives of the two women after their release from prison.