was the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in the Japanese Cabinet of Junichiro Koizumi.[1]
Born in Ikuno-ku, Osaka, Kitagawa graduated from Faculty of Law, Soka University and became a lawyer. In 1990, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time and since 2004 has been Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.[1] Member of New Komeito.
He was the general secretary of New Komeito when the party suffered a major defeat in the 2009 Japanese general election. New Komeito lost ten seats, including Kitagawa's and that of party leader Akihiro Ota. On 8 September 2009 Yoshihisa Inoue replaced Kitagawa as general secretary of New Komeito.[2] Notwithstanding the loss of his seat, Kitagawa became deputy president of the party.
Kitagawa regained his seat representing the Osaka 16th district (representing Sakai-ku, Higashi-ku and Kita-ku in Sakai City) in the 2012 general election, and held the seat in the 2014 general election.