Sugiyama's non-work related hobbies include photography, traveling, building model ships, collecting old cameras, and reading. He has opened a camera section on his website, and he also has his own record label "SUGI Label" which he started on June 23, 2004. Sugiyama also has completed other projects, such as the fanfares for the opening and closing of the gates in the Tokyo Race Track and the Nakayama Race Track. In 2020, he was named a Person of Cultural Merit by the Japanese government.