[2] Born in Tomari, Kunashiri (ja), Hokkaidō, Igaya attended college in the United States at Dartmouth in New Hampshire, where he raced for the Big Green[3] and graduated in 1957.

[2] Igaya also won a bronze medal in slalom at the World Championships in 1958, and finished fourth in the combined.

Igaya was a member of the FIS alpine skiing committee and vice-president of the International Triathlon Union.

[2][6] At the Winter Olympics in 2018, Igaya was inducted into the Olympians for Life project for giving back to sport.

At the World Championships from 1954 through 1980, the combined was a "paper race" using the results of the three events (DH, GS, SL).