Kondo had been trained as an electrician and was the chief engineer aboard the Myojin Maru at the time the boat was chartered for Bishop Museum's Mangarevan Expedition.

Dr Cooke, the leader of the expedition, had been impressed by Kondo's interest in land shells that he was later hired as Assistant Malacologist at the museum.

Kondo later enrolled at University of Hawai'i and received his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors.

Kondo spent his entire career, over 40 years, at the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu.

His main research interests involved land snails in the families Achatinellidae and Partulidae, groups for which he was a major authority, although he did work with other mollusks as well.