After studying filmmaking in the College of Art at Nihon University,[1] he won an award for his independent short Inaka no hōsoku at the Pia Film Festival in 1984.
[2] He directed his first commercial feature, Bataashi kingyo, in 1990 and received a number of awards for best new director, including the Hochi Film Award.
[3] He won the Japan Academy Prize for best director for his film Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad.
[4] Matsuoka is known for his delicate depictions of complicated romantic and familial relationships, including a homosexual triangle in Kirakira Hikaru, a daughter caring for an abusive but now senile mother in Akashia no Michi, and a son caring for a cancer-stricken mother in Tokyo Tower.
[1] His best known and most successful TV show is Midnight Diner.