Born in Tokyo, Katayama spent three years racing in France before returning to Japan in 1988 to enter the Japanese F3000. He scored three podiums in 1990 and won the championship in 1991 with two wins and three second-place finishes.
Japan Tobacco's Cabin brand arranged a Formula One seat for Katayama with the Larrousse team in 1992. The car was unreliable; teammate Bertrand Gachot received the lion's share of the team's resources. Despite this, Katayama impressed by running fifth at the Canadian Grand Prix before his engine failed, ultimately achieving ninth places as his best results. Japan Tobacco secured a switch to Tyrrell for 1993, but the team was at a low ebb — the interim 020C was effectively three years old and the new 021 proved uncompetitive. His best result was tenth at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
In 1994, Katayama and Tyrrell showed a considerable upturn. He impressed with the new 022 chassis, posting three points-scoring finishes and a number of strong qualifying performances, generally running faster than his more experienced teammate Mark Blundell. He was consistently a top-six runner but suffered 12 retirements; at the German Grand Prix he was running third when his throttle stuck open. In the four races he finished in the points he scored two fifths, one sixth, and one seventh, giving him five World Championship points. Katayama was reportedly offered a contract with Benetton alongside world champion Michael Schumacher for 1995, but in his own words "couldn't sign it." It later emerged he had been diagnosed with cancer in his back in 1994; while non-threatening, it was painful and his Grand Prix commitments delayed treatment. He did not disclose this during his career, not wanting sympathy to excuse his performances.
Katayama remained with Tyrrell for 1995 and 1996 but his form declined. His best results were two seventh-place finishes in high-attrition races, scoring no further points while being outpaced by rookie teammate Mika Salo. At the 1996 Belgian Grand Prix he finished on the lead lap for the only time in his Formula One career. The higher cockpit sides introduced after Ayrton Senna's death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix were a significant disadvantage to him during this period. Japan Tobacco's Mild Seven brand secured him a seat at Minardi for 1997, but the team was also struggling; two tenth places were his best results. He announced his retirement from Formula One at his home Grand Prix.
At the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, Katayama co-drove a Toyota GT-One with compatriots Keiichi Tsuchiya and Toshio Suzuki. In the final hour, while closing on the leading BMW, the GT-One suffered a tyre blowout. Katayama kept the car on track and drove slowly back to the pits, losing any chance of the win. The GT-One finished second overall and won the GTP class — the only car in that class to actually finish the race. In 2008, Katayama competed in the Speedcar Series alongside other retired Formula One drivers.
In 2000, Katayama established Team UKYO. The team competed in JGTC from 2001 to 2002 in the GT500 class in collaboration with Cerumo, with Katayama and Masahiko Kondo as drivers. After leaving the series, Team UKYO returned in 2011 to lead Goodsmile Racing's GT300 programme, winning three GT300 titles in 2011, 2014, and 2017. The team also competed in the Dakar Rally between 2002 and 2005 and in 2007. From 2012 onwards, Team UKYO has participated in road bicycle racing as a UCI Continental cycling team.
Katayama is an avid mountain climber. In 2001 he summited Cho Oyu, the world's sixth-highest mountain, and in 2006 he achieved his goal of summiting Manaslu, the world's eighth-highest, after an unsuccessful attempt in 2004. In December 2009 he was reported missing while climbing Mount Fuji with two friends; he was found alive but two fellow climbers died. As of the end of 2010, he had summited six of the Seven Summits: Mont Blanc (1996), Kilimanjaro (1998), Elbrus (1998), Denali (2008), Aconcagua (2009), and Vinson Massif (2010).
Katayama works as a Formula One commentator in Japan for Fuji TV and co-hosts the motoring programme Samurai Wheels for NHK World. In 1996 he was a guest judge on Iron Chef.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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