This coincided with the start of the Lost Decades, a twenty-year period of economic stagnation the country would experience, and he was assigned to a department that dealt with bankrupt securities companies.

[5] While working as a civil servant, Kihara studied at the London School of Economics for two years and earned a master's degree in 1995.

While in England, he had the chance to get acquainted with Margaret Thatcher, who advised him that 'in a democracy, politics performs better than bureaucracy in the long run because of the brilliance and intelligence of all the people in the country'.

[6][4][5] Kihara resigned from the ministry in August 2005 to stand in the 44th General Election in September that year as an official Liberal Democrat candidate, winning the seat for Tokyo 20th constituency.

He was the main promoter of the NISA, which allows individuals residing in Japan to invest up to 3.6 million yen annually without paying capital gains tax.