He attended Waseda Middle School but left after his parents died during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.
In 1936 he published a series in a magazine depicting women moving.
[1] During World War II he broadcast as a member of the Imperial Japanese Army, most notably at the battle of Attu.
[1] After the war, Sugiyama returned to Paramount News.
In 1978 he went to Attu Island and later exhibited the photographs he took in remembrance of his comrades there.