Akira Kimura is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at Shorenstein APARC for 2006-07. Prior to joining Shorenstein APARC, he worked at the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) for sixteen years. Kimura's experiences at DBJ included policy-based financing, finance planning and coordination. He was also assigned for a time at the Ministry of Transport.

Kimura's latest position at the DBJ was as director in the information resources department. He completed undergraduate studies in economics at Tohoku University.