Shinozuka debuted in motorsport in 1967 and joined Mitsubishi Motors in 1971, initially working as a salesman and mechanic before making an unlikely transition into the driver's seat. He established himself in Japanese domestic rally competition and in 1976 made his World Rally Championship debut on the Safari Rally in a Mitsubishi Lancer, becoming the first Japanese driver to start a WRC round.
His reputation grew steadily in the Asia-Pacific region over the following decade, culminating in the 1988 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship title at the wheel of a Mitsubishi Galant VR-4. That season he also partnered for the first time with British co-driver John Meadows, who would become his navigator for the most significant victories of his career. Meadows, who came from a road rallying background, was selected in part because Shinozuka had determined that a northern English accent was easier for him to understand during pace note delivery.
Shinozuka and Meadows concentrated their WRC efforts on the African rounds, particularly the Safari Rally and the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire Bandama. Their preparation was exhaustive — Meadows later recalled reconnaissance sessions that ran seven days a week from five in the morning until dark, and deliberate night-stage practice designed to extract maximum advantage during the hours between one and five in the morning when rivals were merely surviving.
The partnership produced its defining result on the 1991 Ivory Coast Rally, where Shinozuka drove a factory Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 to victory, becoming the first, and so far only, Japanese driver to win a WRC event. He was 43 at the time. The pair repeated the feat in 1992, making them the final winners of the Ivory Coast Rally as a WRC round to date. Shinozuka also recorded outright WRC podium finishes at the Safari Rally later in his career.
Shinozuka began competing in the Dakar Rally in 1986. He recorded third and second places in 1987 and 1988 respectively before going on to achieve his second historic first: in 1997 he became the first Japanese winner of the Dakar, driving a Mitsubishi Pajero to overall victory. Across his Dakar career he accumulated 21 stage victories and seven podium finishes over 22 starts.
He resigned from Mitsubishi in 2002 but continued competing. In the 2003 Dakar, driving a Nissan pickup, he struck a sand dune and rolled multiple times, sustaining severe facial injuries and being placed in a coma. Co-driver Thierry Delli-Zotti suffered fractures to both legs. Despite announcing the 2006 Dakar as his farewell, Shinozuka returned once more in 2007, driving a Nissan and finishing 59th among 109 classified cars.
Shinozuka was inducted into the Japanese Automobile Hall of Fame in 2022. After retiring from competition, he dedicated time to supporting young Japanese drivers and to philanthropic projects in Africa. In 2019 he made a return to the Saharan desert in the Africa Eco Race, run on the route of the original Dakar. He died of pancreatic cancer at a hospital in Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture, on 18 March 2024, aged 75. Mitsubishi Motors, in a formal statement, cited his 1991 and 1992 Ivory Coast victories with the Galant VR-4 and his 1997 Dakar victory with the Pajero as the defining moments of a career that left many memorable scenes with Mitsubishi cars.
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