After graduating from the University of Tsukuba, he joined J1 League club Nagoya Grampus Eight with teammate Shigeyoshi Mochizuki in 1996.
Nishigaya also led the team to a disappointing AFF Cup run, despite a narrow win against Laos and Myanmar, a scoreless draw with Vietnam, the Lions failed to qualify to the semi-finals after a heavy 4–1 humiliation against Malaysia.
[citation needed] In June 2023, Nishigaya only managed to get two draw results in the friendly matches against Oceania countries, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Island.
Nishigaya narrowly led Singapore to a 3–1 win on aggregate against Guam in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification first round.
Nishigaya led Singapore with a disastrous results in the first two matches of the second round of the World Cup qualifiers.
This biographical article related to a Japanese association football midfielder born in the 1970s is a stub.