In 1971, Shizuharu joined the Ministry of Finance, where he worked at many key posts including Counselor of the Minister’s Secretariat, Counselor of the embassy of West Germany and Director-General of the Printing Bureau. Subsequently, he was appointed as Director-General for Policy Planning at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in 2002. He was also Senior Managing Director at Norinchukin Bank from 2003 to 2007 and Vice Chairman at the Life Insurance Association of Japan from 2007 to 2016.
Graduated from the University of Tokyo (Faculty of Law) and holds L.L.M. from Harvard Law School