Tokyo native Susumu Hani was one of the earlier directors involved in what later became known as Nuberu Bagu ('nouvelle vogue' or 'new wave') cinema of Japan. He unusually begun work outside the Japanese studio system and was employed by Iwanami Eiga, the film unit of a publishing company, before also working for the likes of Shochiku and Toho. His methods were outside the norms of conventional film making and included a series of short documentaries. However, even his first feature movie, 1961's Bad Boys, had him not offer the participants a script who are filmed as themselves without direction. It won the Kinema Jump Prize. He married actress Hidari Sachiko who was in his She And He and Bride Of The Andes movies.