[12] Born in Kyoto, Nagata attended the Ōkura Kōtō Shōgyō Gakkō (now Tokyo Keizai University), but left before graduating.

When Daiichi Eiga folded, Nagata became head of the Kyoto studio of Shinkō Kinema until the government reorganized the industry during World War Two.

Due to the decline of the film industry, and Nagata's extravagant expenditures, Daiei went bankrupt in 1971,[13] but he continued as an independent producer for some years after that.

[13] He promoted the two-league system, helped build Tokyo Stadium, and became the first president of the Pacific League in Japan.

[21] Nagata's competence for managements were also demonstrated in his performances as the first president and a temporal manager of the sports newspaper Tokyo Sports (due to his connection with Yoshio Kodama) to make it into a major national daily,[22] as the business delegate of Pepsi in Japan,[23] and as a commissioner (jp) of the Japan Sumo Association.

Nagata was also a patronage of Schools of the Sacred Heart in Japan (jp), and contributed in its expansion notably by contriving resources through managing the palace of the Kuni-no-miya house.