[1] Born in Ikuno-ku, Osaka, Kitagawa graduated from Faculty of Law at Sōka University and became a lawyer.

In 1990, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time and was appointed as the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in 2004.

New Komeito lost ten seats, including Kitagawa's and that of party leader Akihiro Ota.

On 8 September 2009 Yoshihisa Inoue replaced Kitagawa as general secretary of New Komeito.

Kitagawa regained his seat representing the Osaka 16th district (representing Sakai-ku, Higashi-ku and Kita-ku in Sakai City) in the 2012 general election, and held the seat in the 2014 general election.