Background Preoperative chemotherapy with cisplatin plus S-1 (CS) followed by gastrectomy with D2 plus para-aortic lymph node (PAN) dissection is regarded as a standard treatment in Japan for advanced gastric cancer with bulky lymph node (BN) and/or PAN metastasis. In the JCOG1002, we added docetaxel to CS (DCS) to further improve long-term outcomes. However, the primary endpoint, clinical response rate (RR), did not reach the expected level (Ito et al. in Gastric Cancer 20:322–31, 2017). Herein, we report our long-term survival results. Methods Patients with BN and/or PAN metastasis received 2 or 3 cycles of DCS therapy (docetaxel at 40 mg/m 2 and cisplatin at 60 mg/m 2 on day 1 and S-1 at 80 mg/m 2 per day for 2 weeks, followed by a 2-week rest) followed by gastrectomy with D2 plus PAN dissection and postoperative S-1 for 1 year. Results Between July 2011 and May 2013, 53 patients were enrolled. Clinically, 17.0% had both PAN and BN metastasis, and the rest had either PAN (26.4%) or BN (56.6%) metastasis. Among all eligible patients, the 5-year overall survival was 54.9% (95% confidence interval 40.3–67.3%) at the last follow-up in May 2018. Among 44 eligible patients with R0 resection, the 5-year relapse-free survival was 47.7% (95% confidence interval 32.5–61.5%). Conclusions Adding docetaxel to CS in preoperative chemotherapy for extensive nodal metastasis improved neither short-term outcomes nor long-term survival. Preoperative chemotherapy with CS followed by D2 + PAN dissection and postoperative S-1 remains the standard of care for patients with extensive nodal metastasis.