(Born : 20 November 1948) An employee of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. He entered his first rally in 1967 and from 1970 was a designated Mitsubishi's factory driver. Since his debut, he achieved many impressive results behind the wheel of Mitsubishi vehicles such as the Pajero/Montero, Colt, Lancer, Galant, Lancer Evolution series, etc. In the 1991 World Rally Championship (WRC), he became the first Japanese rally driver to win the Ivory Coast Rally. After this victory Shinozuka was officially recognised as an A-seeded driver by the FIA. In 1997 he achieved another premiere for a Japanese driver by beating the odds to take overall victory in the legendary Paris-Dakar Rally. Starting in 1998 and 1999 Granada-Dakar Rally, he has challenged the 8-round World Cup series climbing to 2nd in the Drivers' ranking. This year, Shinozuka made a remarkable recovery from a spectacular accident on the Dakar 2000, when he rolled his Mitsubishi over a huge sand dune, and returned in September to win the Por Las Pampas Rally in Argentina. He also finished third overall and first in the modified production car category for Mitsubishi in the Marlboro UAE Desert Challenge Rally in November.

Recent results :
1992	Paris - Cape Town	3rd overall
1993	Paris-Dakar	5th overall
1994	Baja Spain	5th overall
1995	Granada-Dakar	3rd overall
1997	Dakar-Agades-Dakar	1st overall
1998	Paris-Granada-Dakar	2nd overall
	Italian Baja	2nd overall
	Tunisia Rally	2nd overall
	Atlas Rally	2nd overall
	Baja Portugal	11th overall
	UAE desert Challenge	3rd overall
1999	Granada-Dakar	4th overall
	Italian Baja	1st overall
	Tunisia Rally	2nd overall
	Por Las Pampas	2nd overall
	UAE desert Challenge	2nd overall
2000	Por Las Pampas	1st overall
	UAE desert Challenge	3rd overall