Nagayama was born in Abashiri, Hokkaido and grew up with divorced parents.

This ruling is today considered the landmark decision for the application of the death penalty in Japan.

The Japanese writing community was uneasy with his success, given his status as a convicted killer.

He was rejected by the Japan Writers' Association but did receive recognition in Saarland, Germany in 1996.

[3] On August 1, 1997, he was executed at the Tokyo Detention Center at the age of 48 by decision of Justice Minister Isao Matsuura,[citation needed] just 34 days after the arrest of Seito Sakakibara, the 14-year-old perpetrator of the Kobe child murders.