After Shirota's run as Charles Lindbergh in the 2007 year-end Japanese production of the "Take Flight" musical, Shirota starred in the January 2008 TV drama, "Koshonin – The Negotiator", portraying Mariya Kyousuke, a condemned criminal. Next, Shirota starred in "Rookies", the successful baseball drama based on the manga of the same name by Morita Masanori, playing Kei Shinjo. The series first aired on April 19, 2008, and ended July 26, 2008. after 11 episodes. He would reprise his role as Kagurazaka Makoto in the 2008 "Hana Kimi" special episode. In 2009, Shirota starred in the made-for-television movie, "Go Ape", reprised his role as Shinjo Kei in the feature film for "Rookies – Sotsugyou", and co-starred with Haruma Miura in "Samurai High School" as the soft-spoken, Nakamura Tsuyoshi. He also reprised his role as Mariya Kyousuke for the second season of "Koshonin – The Negotiator" and the 2010 feature film release of "Koshonin – The Movie". He is also set to be in the Japanese stage production of "Elisabeth" as Der Tod from August 2010 to October 2010.