Nakata began his professional career in 1995 and won the Asian Football Confederation Player of the Year award in 1997 and 1998, the Scudetto with Roma in 2001, played for Japan in three World Cup tournaments (1998, 2002 and 2006) and competed in the Olympics twice (1996 and 2000).

[4] In 2005, he was made the Knight of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, one of Italy's highest honors, for improving the country's image overseas.

After the 1998 World Cup in France, Nakata was signed by Perugia in Italy's Serie A for 4 million U.S. dollars,[7] becoming the second Japanese player ever to appear in the Italian top league after Kazuyoshi Miura had done it for Genoa four years earlier.

In January 2000, after one and a half seasons at Perugia, Nakata moved to Roma for 42 billion lire, helping the team win the scudetto.

After replacing Francesco Totti in the second half with Roma trailing 0–2, Nakata netted with a 30-yard goal beyond Juventus goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar's reach, with 11 minutes left in the match.

[10] In the summer of 2001, Nakata penned a four-year deal with Parma[11] for a transfer fee of 55 billion lire, a world record payment for an Asian player which would not be broken for 14 years.

[12][13][14] He made his club debut on 8 August 2001 in their 0–2 defeat at Stadio Ennio Tardini against Lille in the first leg of the third round of the Champions League.

[16] Nakata played there for two and a half seasons, where he scored a crucial goal after coming on as a substitute in the first leg of the 2002 Coppa Italia final against Juventus,[17] which Parma eventually won.

"[24][25] In a 2014 interview in TMW Magazine, Nakata confirmed that he had retired at such a young age because he was no longer enjoying football, and wanted instead to see what was going on in the world.

[26] Despite Nakata playing every match in Japan's first three World Cup appearances, he was not selected for the country's Asian Cup-winning squads in 2000 and 2004.

[3][27][28][29][30] Outside football, Nakata has shown interest in fashion, attending runway shows, wearing designer clothing and sporting colorful haircuts.

[36] Nakata has cited the popular manga and anime series, Captain Tsubasa, as his primary inspiration in choosing football as a career.

[43] In the 2012 video game Inazuma Eleven 2: Firestorm / Blizzard Nakata was added as a hidden playable player.