While a student of economics at Yokohama National University he was an avid reader of Life and other photographic and fashion magazines at the American CIE library in Hibiya.
From around 1956 he was caught up with new trends in photography, and he participated in the 1957 exhibition Jūnin no me (10人の眼, Eyes of ten), subsequently joining the collective "Vivo".
Satō had a series of one-man shows starting in 1961, alongside publications within the camera magazines.
He specialized in black-and-white photographs of girls: their faces in close-up, their bodies surrounded by nature.
Thereafter he made many trips to Europe, particularly Scandinavia and Vienna, primarily photographing in color.