His varied assignments at the bank included a period as General Manager at the Ōita branch.

[3] Shirakawa joined the faculty of the graduate school of public policy at Kyoto University in 2006.

Masaaki ranks 6th on the world's most powerful by Newsweek along with economic triumvirs Ben Bernanke (4th) and Jean-Claude Trichet (5th).

[4] Shirakawa's mandate is "to respond to changes in circumstances in a flexible and timely manner" in a way which can contribute to the sustainable growth and development of Japan.

[6] In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Masaaki Shirakawa, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 10+ works in 20+ publications in 3 languages and 110+ library holdings.