Due to their contributions to malacology, numerous species bear the Hirase name, such as Conus hirasei, .

He graduated from Third College and afterward took courses on psychology at the Faculty of Literature at Kyoto Imperial University (1910).

He received his master's degree from Tōkyō Imperial University in 1917 and continued post graduate work from 1917 to 1922.

[4] In his obituary from the Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London, he was noted to be “without political interests and enthusiastically devoted to the study of mollusks.”[5] His publications of note included a review of Japanese oysters, scaphopods, and a catalogue of Japanese shells with hand illustrated plates.

Shintaro died on September 9, 1939, at age 55 at his home in Tōkyō after a short period of kidney failure.