Shukuzawa died of a heart attack on the way back from a mountain climbing expedition in Gunma prefecture.
[1] More than four thousand people, including Seiji Hirao and Katsuyuki Kiyomiya attended the overnight wake on June 22, 2006, at Honganji temple in Tsukiji, Tokyo.
Born in Hino, Tokyo, he began to play rugby as scrum-half at Kumagaya High School.
On May 28, 1989, his team beat a weakened Scotland team shorn of nine British Lions then on tour in Australia (Gary Armstrong, Finlay Calder, Craig Chalmers, Peter Dods, John Jeffrey, Gavin Hastings, Scott Hastings, David Sole and Derek White) by 28–24 at Chichibunomiya Stadium in Tokyo.
He played a leading role in Japanese rugby and helped to establish both the Microsoft Cup and the Top League in an effort to modernize and strengthen the game in his country.