[4] Renowned as one of the best free kick takers ever and one of the greatest Japanese footballers of all time, Steve Perryman once remarked that Nakamura "could open a tin of beans with his left foot".

[6][15] By his graduation from Tōkō Gakuen in 1997, Nakamura had attracted interest from several top-flight Japanese clubs, including offers from Júbilo Iwata, Verdy Kawasaki, and Gamba Osaka.

[28] Due to his success, Nakamura became the subject of transfer target rumours from a number of European clubs including Real Madrid[29][30] and several Lega Calcio sides such as Reggina, Chievo, Perugia, Napoli, Lecce, and Atalanta.

[30][32] Nakamura left Marinos partway through the 2002 season to join Reggina, newly promoted to Serie A, after the clubs agreed to a 6-month loan and US$3.5 million transfer fee.

The frequent changes resulted in Nakamura mostly coming off the bench during the 2003–04 season[35][40][41] and not fitting in well under Mazzarri in 2004–05 when Reggina only scored 36 goals in their entire league campaign,[42] with Nakamura only managing to contribute two goals (although each came in crucial 1–0 league victories in a season where Reggina finished only 2 points clear of the relegation zone).

[43] Coupled with Reggina's struggle to avoid relegation every season that he had been at the club, Nakamura became concerned he was regressing from top-level football[44] and decided it was time to move on.

[13] The deal with Celtic was completed on 29 July 2005 for a reported transfer fee of £2.5 million,[49] although Strachan has claimed the actual fee was far lower;[52] part of the discrepancy may be due to the deal involving Celtic securing the player's image rights[53] with a view to enhancing the club's profile and merchandising sales in the Far East.

[54] Nevertheless, Nakamura had an excellent debut and was named Man of the Match,[56] earning a standing ovation from the home Celtic support when he was substituted in the 84th minute.

[60] His creativity, as well as his work ethic and composure under pressure, won praise from teammates, manager Gordon Strachan and Celtic supporters.

[63] In his second season at Celtic, Nakamura played his debut Champions League game on 13 September against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

[67] Sky Sports pundit and Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier later ranked Nakamura's free kick as among the best five set-piece goals he has ever seen.

[9] It was Nakamura's performance in the final 20 minutes of the game which allowed Celtic to escape with a point, prompting Gordon Strachan to proclaim him "a genius".

Hoops manager Gordon Strachan insisted that Celtic couldn't play the second leg of the Champions League match against A.C. Milan in the San Siro without him.

[70] He played in both legs of the fixture, the first of which was a 0–0 draw at Celtic Park, with Milan going on to win the tie 1–0 after extra-time at the San Siro.

[citation needed] Nakamura featured little in the first part of Celtic's 2007–08 campaign due to a knee injury which was initially picked up in a Champions League qualifying match against Spartak Moscow in August 2007.

[78] Nakamura returned to play on 12 January, for Celtic's Scottish Cup match against Stirling Albion, in which he scored a goal.

He later had a goal bound effort cleared off the line by a Carlos Cuéllar handball in the same match;[82] although McDonald missed the ensuing penalty, Celtic eventually won the game 2–1.

[87] Nakamura made his debut with Espanyol in the first league match of the 2009–10 season against Athletic Bilbao,[88] playing the entire game.

[12] By December, Espanyol staff expressed concerns about Nakamura's slow adaptation to Spain and Spanish football, with manager Mauricio Pochettino even suggesting that most of the issues were cultural.

[94] Nakamura acknowledged that his return to Marinos was largely due to ensuring playing time so that he would be selected and ready for the 2010 World Cup.

[97][note 3] However, Nakamura was sidelined with injury late in the season and the Marinos lost three of their final four games,[98] finishing one point behind Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the title race.

[103][note 3] After the end of the 2016 season, J1 League rivals Júbilo Iwata made a multi-year contract offer to Nakamura.

[108] Marinos general manager Takao Toshishige [ja] publicly expressed regret at the club's failure to re-sign Nakamura, saying "We absolutely cannot allow something like this to happen again.

In 1999, Nakamura was selected a member of Japan's Under-23 team that won all its Asian qualifying matches in the run up to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Nakamura made his senior national team debut on 13 February 2000, in an Asian Cup qualifier match against Singapore.

In the second to last warm up match for the World Cup against Honduras, he scored two goals, one of them a curling shot made directly from a corner kick.

He believed Nakamura lacked the physique and stamina to play either the center or the left of the midfield, and had a surplus of players at both positions.

The new coach immediately brought the talented player back to the national team, starting Nakamura in his debut against Jamaica.

A left-footed player, Nakamura was renowned for his creativity and long range passing ability, as well as his accuracy from free kicks, making a name for himself as a set-piece specialist.

He has appeared on the front cover (some of them with Zico) of the Japanese releases of Konami's Winning Eleven video game series (WE 5, WE 9, WE 9: Ubiquitous Evolution and WE 10) in 2001, 2005 and 2006.