Mr. Kitagami worked for the Ministry of Finance from 1992, but resigned from the Department of the Treasury to become an official candidate of the Democratic Party of Japan in 2002. He won a seat in the 44th (2005) and 45th (2009) General Elections of the House of Representatives.

Mr. Kitagami served as a vice chairman of the Diet Affairs Committee of the DPJ, a senior director of the Special Committee on North Korean Abductions and Other Issues of the House of Representatives, as well as a director of the Committee on Economy, Trade and Industry of the House of Representatives. His current post is vice minister of economy, trade and industry. In 2004, he was honored as an Inamori Fellow by the Inamori Foundation and in 2007 as a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum.

He graduated from the Faculty of Law, Kyoto University.