Suzuki began her career as an actress and model. The counterculture icon has long been a staple of Japanese science fiction, penning a number of essays, short stories and novels, after her ex-husband and father to her daughter, jazz musician Karou Abe, died from an overdose. Abe and Suzuki were the subject of Koji Wakamatsu's 1995 biopic Endless Waltz (which was titled Endoresu warutsu in Japan). Suzuki died by suicide in 1986.