A native of Ōmihachiman, Shiga, he attended Kyoto University and received a master's degree from it.

He graduated from Shiga Prefectural Hikone East High School, Kyoto University Faculty of Engineering.

He joined Toray after completing a master's program at the Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University.

Kawabata served as a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) from 1986 to 2012 and from 2014 to 2017.

In September 2017, Kawabata announced that he would not run in the 2017 general election and would retire from politics.