The eldest son of a landowner in Chiba Prefecture, Suzuki had aspired to participate in the forestry development of Manchuria based on stories told by his uncle, who was a colonel in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Russo-Japanese War.

After his return, he was a participant in the 1931 March Incident, an abortive coup d'état intended to make General Kazushige Ugaki prime minister.

Although that earned him a spot close to Hideki Tojo, it also gained him the reputation as an "opportunist," which was resented by many in the Army, including his former classmate Tomoyuki Yamashita.

Although retired from the military, Suzuki continued to serve as a Minister of State as Chair of the Cabinet Planning Board under the second and third Fumimaro Konoe administrations.

[3] Continuing to serve in the Hideki Tojo administration, he strongly pushed for the creation of the Ministry of Greater East Asia, of which he expected to become the cabinet minister.

However, Tojo selected the career bureaucrat Kazuo Aoki instead, and Suzuki resigned as Minister of State and became a member of the Upper House of the Diet of Japan in October 1943.

He was requested to serve as an advisor by several industrialists, and was asked by Kishi Nobusuke to run for the post-war Diet of Japan, but Suzuki refused all offers to return to public life.