Tetsuji Honna studied under Kazuo Yamada and Michiyoshi Inoue. His brilliant history of awards includes the 1st prize in the 1985 Tokyo International Music Competition for conducting; 2nd prize in the 1990 Toscanini International Conducting Competition; 1st prize in the 1992 Budapest International Conducting Competition; and the 1997 Osaka Stage Arts Encouragement Award.

In 1991 Honna presented works by Dutch and Japanese composers with the Hato Ensemble at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, as part of a Holland-Japan Week. In the same year he made his debuts with the Zagreb Philharmonic and the „Arturo Toscanini” Symphony Orchestra in Parma.

Tetsuji Honna has conducted numerous orchestras such as the Hungarian State Philharmonic, the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Brno State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (also on a tour to Japan inJune 2006), the Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra and the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg. In 1997 he made his debuts with the Philharmonia Orchestra and conducted the Netherlands Philharmonic in Amsterdam, a concert which was followed by immediate reinvitations for several times. He is also a regular guest with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra in Ljubljana with which he has recorded several CDs. In October 2005 he has conducted subscription concerts with Christian Tetzlaff.

Also he conducted Viotta Ensemble which consists by the principal musicians of Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Nobuko Imai in Tokyo in 2005.

Since 2001 he has been Music Adviser and Conductor of the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra. In October 2004 he led this orchestra with great success on a Japan tour to Tokyo and Osaka and opened their subscription concert since season 2005.

Honna has been invited to many international festivals including the Carinthischer Sommer in Austria, the Bartók Festival in Szombathely, Mostly Mozart in Tokyo, Seoul in Autumn 2000, and Asian Music Festival 1992 and 2003. He has worked with many of the world's leading soloists such as Martha Argerich, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Antonio Meneses and Cecile Licade.

In Japan Tetsuji Honna was appointed permanent conductor of the Osaka Symphony Orchestra (1995 - 2001) and Principal Conductor of the Japan Chamber Orchestra (1993 - 1997) which plays mainly 20th century music. From 1998 to 2001 Honna was Permanent Guest Conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra.

In the opera world, he has directed modern works such as "Chung Hyang" by Toroku Takagi and "Orpheo of Hiroshima" by Yasushi Akutagawa, which was recorded and highly acclaimed. In 2004 Honna direced two exciting operas in Tokyo and Osaka with great acclaim: "Momo" by Toshi Ichiyanagi, and "Satyricon" by Bruno Maderna.