 Ochiai's main influence to become a director was Charlie Chaplin after seeing "City Lights" and "The Kid" while in junior high school.He went to the Nihon University College of Art, and believed that at that time that Japanese films were not doing well and it would be impossible to get to work on feature films and went into work as a television director.Ochiai made a short film for the dramatic series "Yonimo Kimyou Na Monogatari" called "Midnight Call" in 1990.