He studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts under Tomojirō Ikenouchi, Akio Yashiro and Akira Miyoshi and continued his studies from 1965 at the Conservatoire de Paris under André Jolivet, Henri Dutilleux and Simone Plé-Caussade.
In 1968 Masato Uchida returned to the Tokyo University of the Arts and graduated in 1971.
During his last study years he founded the composer group "whitecap" (jap.
From the 1970s he was also a member of the Victor Music Classroom Project, a Japanese organization which was part of the Victor Company of Japan and specialized in teaching children to play piano on the JVC keyboards.
In 1990 he became the director of the Victor Technics Music School and worked as a consultant until his death.