[2] Being a fan of Jim Jarmusch and Wim Wenders, Okada aspired to be a movie director when he was in middle school, which led him to join a theater club in Keio University.
[6] His book, The End of the Special Time We Were Allowed (わたしたちに許された特別な時間の終わり, Watashitachi ni yurusareta tokubetsu na jikan no owari), was published in February 2007 and consisted of two novels.
In 2015, Okada was nominated for the 28th Mishima Yukio Prize for his novel adaptation of his play, Current Location (現在地, Genzaichi), which was first staged at the Kanagawa Arts Theatre on April 20, 2012.
Faced with economic and political challenges that were set by the bubble burst, young Japanese people are forced to have part-time work for which they are overqualified.
Rather than directly addressing recent social issues in Japan like Ai Nagai and Yōji Sakate, Okada focuses on connecting to his audience's sense of alienation by separating speech and movement in his plays.
[7] Okada's hyperrealistic style is often referred to as "super real Japanese,"[8] which draws influence from Oriza Hirata's "quiet theater" movement from the 1980s.
Following the Tōhoku earthquake in 2011, he wrote Current Location, a play that reintroduces the concept of "haisha no tachiba" which literally translates to "from the standpoint of the afflicted people."
[16] In October 2009, Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner, and the Farewell Speech (ホットペッパー、クーラー、そしてお別れの挨拶, Hottopeppā, kūrā, soshite, owakare no aisatsu), which was co-produced by Hebbel am Ufer, premiered in Berlin.
In 2013, Okada collaborated with Hebbel am Ufer again to produce Ground and Floor, which had its premiere in Kunsten Festival des Arts in Brussels along with an eight-country European tour.
In 2014, Okada was invited to present Super Premium Soft Double Vanilla Rich (スーパープレミアムソフトWバニラリッチ, Sūpā puremiamu sofuto W banira ricchi) at the Theater der Welt festival in Mannheim, Germany.
The play explores Japan's consumerism culture by introducing characters who have different perspectives pertaining to konbini or Japanese convenient stores, whose numbers have increased since the 1970s.
[17] His newest work, God Bless Baseball is set to premiere in Gwangju, Korea for the Asian Arts Theatre Festival in September 2015. chelfitsch has also toured Seoul, Cardiff, Salzburg, Singapore, Seattle, Vancouver, and other cities.
"[14] In 2012, Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner, and the Farewell Speech (ホットペッパー、クーラー、そしてお別れの挨拶, Hottopeppā, kūrā, soshite, owakare no aisatsu) was presented by the Japan Society as part of the 2012 Under the Radar Festival.
Also in that year, Okada had his first English-language world premiere with Zero Cost House, which was a collaboration with Pig Iron Theatre Company,[23] as a part of the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival.