Shinichi Kitaoka (b. April 20, 1948, 北岡伸一 Kitaoka Shin'ichi) is a professor of political science at Tokyo University and the former Japanese ambassador to the United Nations.
Kitaoka received his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo in 1976 and took a lecturership at Rikkyo University; he became a full professor there in 1985. In 1997, he moved to his current position at the University of Tokyo. He has served on several government advisory panels; in 2004, he was appointed as Japan's ambassador and deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, a position he held until 2006 when he returned to academia.[1][2][3] He was also the Japanese chair of the Japan-China Joint History Research Committee that investigated the Nanking Massacre.[4]