His early career was not promising, as he graduated in very last place as 255th of 255 cadets in the 51st class of the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy in 1920.

Kinashi penetrated the destroyer screen, and after closing to within 500 meters (550 yd) of the aircraft carrier, launched his full salvo of six torpedoes.

[9] On 17 December 1943, I-29 was dispatched on a secret Yanagi mission under the Axis Powers' Tripartite Pact to provide for an exchange of personnel, strategic materials, and manufactured goods between Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan.

In spite of Allied Ultra signals intelligence decryptions revealing her mission, I-29 managed to reach Lorient in German-occupied France on 11 March 1944.

While his crew rested in France, Kinashi travelled to Berlin, where he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class personally by Adolf Hitler for his role in sinking Wasp.

[9][10] I-29 left Lorient on 16 April 1944 with 18 passengers and a cargo torpedo boat engines, Enigma coding machines, radar components, a Walter HWK 509A rocket engine, and Messerschmitt Me 163 and Messerschmitt Me 262 blueprints to support the development of the Mitsubishi J8M rocket plane, arriving at Singapore on 14 July 1944.