Afterward, he obtained the post of assistant in Chemical Resources Laboratory at Tokyo Tech.

In 1976, he was invited to work in the laboratory of Alan MacDiarmid as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

With regard to the mechanism of electric conduction, it is strongly believed that nonlinear excitations in the form of solitons play a role.

Source:[5] Shirakawa's research on conductive polymers can be broken down into four main categories: polyacetylene thin film synthesis, the causation of metallic conductivity due to chemical doping, the creation of conjugated (double or triple bonds in a molecule which are separated by a single bond) liquid crystalline polymers, and acetylene polymerization development that used liquid crystals as solvents.

On 6 December 2013, the House of Councillors (Japan) approved the bill of the State Secrecy Law.

Shirakawa and physics Nobel laureate Toshihide Maskawa issued a statement saying that the law: "threatens the pacifist principles and fundamental human rights established by the constitution and should be rejected immediately...(omitted)...Even in difficult times, protecting the freedom of the press, of thought and expression and of academic research is indispensable.