[3] He was born a Nisei Japanese-American, but at age 8 moved back to his parents' home country, where he extensively studied the art of bonsai due to his grandfather's influence.

He returned to the United States near Boulder, Colorado in 1935, and then in late 1946 settled in Los Angeles, California with his wife Alice and their three sons, Eugene, Robert, and Richard.

Naka worked extensively with trees that were native to Southern California, rather than traditionally favored Japanese species, and helped popularize bonsai in the United States.

Naka traveled and taught extensively around the world, at conventions and clubs, but refused to hold classes in Japan (where bonsai had been highly developed along certain lines over the centuries), saying "They want me to teach, and I tell them it's like trying to preach to Buddha."

In May 2005, a collection of over 80 of his drawings of how he envisioned the future development of various workshop participants' trees was published as John Naka's Sketchbook, edited by Jack Billet and Cheryl Manning.

[5] On November 24, 1967, Naka received an honorary medal and citation from the President of Japanese Agricultural Affairs Department, Prince Takamatsu and Eikichi Hiratsuka.

[citation needed] In 1985, Emperor Hirohito of Japan bestowed upon Naka the most prestigious award for a non-Japanese citizen, The Fifth Class of the Order of the Rising Sun.