Nakayama graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo in 1966, and then joined the Ministry of Finance.

In 1986 he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time, and in September 2004, he became the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

[2] When he was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, Nakayama was prominent in efforts to censor sections of junior high textbooks in Japan that made references to comfort women.

[4] During the first administration of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, Nakayama made efforts to revise the Kono statement of 1993.

[9] He made several controversial statements since his appointment, such as saying: "I will stand at the forefront to destroy the Japan Teachers' Union, which is a cancer for Japanese education".