Mitsuo Shoji studied at the Art Institute of Osaka City Museum and Nakanoshima School of Arts, Osaka, Japan from 1965-1967 then completed a Bachelor of Arts, School Teaching Certificate at Kyoto City University of Fine Arts, Japan in 1971 and a Master of Fine Arts in 1973. He then took up positions at the Caulfield Institute of Technology from 1973-1974, East Sydney Technical College in 1975 and California State University, San Jose, in 1977. Returning to Australia in 1978, he worked as a senior lecturer at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, until his retirement in 2007. He has now become an honorary senior lecturer with SCA and works fulltime in his own studio. His training with the avant-garde Sodeisha group had a strong influence on his style, which is highly experimental. He signs his works with his initials and the year, either painted or incised.