On October 3, 2012, he was selected as the parliamentary leader of the JRA and held this position until the party dissolved in September 2014.

[2] A native of Kamoto District, Kumamoto and graduate of Keio University, he was a staff member at the headquarters of the Japan New Party, and secretary to former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa.

[3] He was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 2000 after an unsuccessful run in 1998.

Matsuno served as Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary during the 2009-2010 Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) administration of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

On September 11, 2012, Matsuno submitted his resignation to the DPJ and joined Tōru Hashimoto's new national political party, the Japan Restoration Association, Nippon Isshin no Kai.