[1] After acting as a child, he made his major debut at 16 in the Kō Nakahira film Crazed Fruit in 1956.

[3] Tsugawa gained popularity playing villain roles in TV jidaigeki drama series as the Hissatsu series[3][4] and appeared in films like Otoko wa tsurai yo: Watashi no Tora-san and Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.

[5] Tsugawa recently debuted as a director under the pseudonym Makino Masahiko with his film Nezu no Ban.

[1] He chose this name because he is the nephew of the Japanese director Masahiro Makino, his mother's brother.

[1] His aunt and uncle through his father are the actors Sadako Sawamura and Daisuke Katō.