Kawara was a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature).

[1] A native of Nanao, Ishikawa and graduate of Chuo University, he was elected for the first time in 1972.

In 1987, he assumed the post of Director General of the Japan Defense Agency (and again in 1999 to 2000).

He resigned a year later after taking responsibility for the Nadashio incident.

He died in Nanao, Ishikawa, in early January 2013 of pneumonia.