[2] Katayama graduated from Columbia College in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in East Asian studies, earning magna cum laude distinctions.

[3] He went on to the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and earned a Master of Science degree with a concentration in business reporting.

[3] Katayama joined the Associated Press as a general assignment reporter in Tokyo before moving to Fortune Magazine as a correspondent for Japan and New York.

In April 2000, Katayama's report on broadband technology was cited when Moneyline won a Maxwell Media Award.

[5] In spring 2016, he, Senator Daniel Inouye, and U.S.-Japan Council president Irene Hirano were featured in the Japanese Overseas Migration Museum's exhibition on successful people worldwide with roots in Japan's Fukuoka prefecture.