College and amateur Kimura's career in organized soccer began with the youth team of
Kawasaki Frontale. By the age of 15, he played for the Kawasaki Frontale reserve team. A foot injury aged 17 hampered his opportunity to sign a professional contract with the club. Despite this, he would eventually earn an
athletic scholarship to play
college soccer at
Western Illinois University after moving to the United States, where he took an intensive English-language course and the
SAT, on which he achieved a near-perfect score on its
mathematics section. he also played with the
Thunder Bay Chill of the
USL Premier Development League.
Professional Kimura was drafted by
Colorado Rapids in the
2007 MLS Supplemental Draft, and in doing so became first Japanese-born player in the history of Major League Soccer. He was a bit-part player for much of his first two seasons, playing four games in his rookie season, and featuring in 18 games in 2008, 17 as a starter. He scored his first career goal on May 2, 2009, in a game against
Real Salt Lake. During the 2010 playoffs, he scored the game-winning goal against San Jose that sent the Colorado Rapids to
MLS Cup 2010. Kimura then played for a full 90 minutes (plus 30 minutes of extra time) to help the Colorado Rapids capture the MLS Cup against FC Dallas with a 2–1 victory in Toronto, Ontario. While with Colorado Kimura appeared in 117 league matches and scored 4 goals. Kimura was traded to
Portland Timbers in exchange for allocation money and an
international roster slot in July 2012. Five months later, Kimura was traded to
New York Red Bulls along with a second-round pick in the
2013 MLS SuperDraft in exchange for
Home Grown Player rights to Bryan Gallego and
allocation money. On March 3, 2013, Kimura made his official debut for New York starting for his new club in a 3–3 draw against his former club
Portland Timbers. Following the 2014 season, New York announced that it would not exercise its 2015 contract option on Kimura. In February 2015, Kimura signed with Polish side
Widzew Łódź. In July 2015, Kimura signed with
Atlanta Silverbacks of the
North American Soccer League. In January 2016, he signed with expansion
Rayo OKC. On December 7, 2017,
Nashville SC announced Kimura as a new signing.
Coaching Kimura first began coaching for
Nashville SC before departing the club in October 2024. In July 2025, Kimura joined
Masaki Hemmi's staff at
USL Super League club
Lexington SC. Kimura was promoted to the role of head coach after Hemmi was reassigned to
Lexington SC's USL Championship squad on December 9, 2025. ==Personal life==