Kenjirō Shinozuka

Kenjiro Shinozuka (1948–2024) was born in Ota, Tokyo, studied at Tokai University, and made his rally debut in 1967. His best years came as a works driver for Mitsubishi Motors: the 1988 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in a Galant VR-4, and back-to-back wins at the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire Bandama in 1991 and 1992, when that event was a round of the World Rally Championship. It is worth remembering how improbable that was. Rally raid is days of sand, dust, mud and navigation, and the discipline was overwhelmingly European in its talent and its assumptions. A Japanese driver arriving and winning on those terms was not a footnote; it changed what was thought possible, and it did so for a manufacturer that would go on to define desert racing. He died in March 2024. Any honest account of rallying in Japan starts with his name, and I don't think that will change.

Name (English)

Kenjirō Shinozuka

Name (Japanese)

篠塚建次郎

Reading

しのづか けんじろう

Born

November 20, 1948 – March 18, 2024

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Scorpio / Rat

Origin

Ota, Tokyo, Japan

Occupation

rally driver / rally raid automobile driver

University

Tokai University

• Official sitehttps://www.shinoken.net/
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/kenjiroshinozukajapan/
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenjiro%20Shinozuka
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AF%A0%E5%A1%9A%E5%BB%BA%E6%AC%A1%E9%83%8E
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q718589

Tags

• Tokyo
• rally driver
• rally raid automobile driver

Last updated

2026-08-07

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.