South Hamgyong Province
Gotō was born in Yongheung County, South Hamgyong Province in Korea during the Japanese colonial period (now Kumya County, South Hamgyong Province, North Korea). He fled with his family to Kyūshū, Japan while in junior high school. He studied Russian literature at Waseda University, with particular interest in Nikolai Gogol. He then worked at an advertising agency and a publishing house, before becoming a professional novelist in 1968.