Tsuji grew up in Kyoto, where he spent much of his time alone engaging in art projects. Tsuji came across an issue of Fangoria which featured Dick Smith and his work turning Hal Holbrook into Abraham Lincoln for the 1976 miniseries Lincoln. This led to Tsuji's own experiments with special make-up effects, photos of which he began sending to Dick Smith after discovering his P.O. box in the back of a magazine. The two would eventually meet in person when Smith traveled to Japan to work on Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Sweet Home. Smith invited Tsuji to work on the film with him and this began Tsuji’s film career.
Tsuji crafted the silicone model of Brad Pitt's head used to artificially age him via CGI for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in 2008. In 2012, Tsuji created the prosthetics which turned Joseph Gordon-Levitt into a young Bruce Willis for Looper.
In 2017, Gary Oldman talked Tsuji out of retirement to create the Winston Churchill prosthetics for Darkest Hour. Oldman had been considered for the role of General Thade in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes film and his work at that time had impressed Oldman enough that for him, Tsuji was the only man to turn him into Churchill. For this, on March 4, 2018 Tsuji won the 2018 Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
