[4] Nakamura was devoted to building canal projects, from the Kunar River in eastern Afghanistan and was credited with transforming the desert of Gamberi, on the outskirts of Jalalabad, into lush forest and productive wheat farmland.
On 4 December 2019, as Nakamura was heading to work in his aid vehicle in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, he was assassinated by gunmen along with his bodyguards and driver.
[6] On 11 February 2021, sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan claimed that Amir Nawaz (also known as Haji Dubai) was the main suspect in Nakamura's death.
Hino's novel Flowers and Dragons (花と龍, Hana to Ryuu) was adapted into film while Nakamura was in elementary school.
[9] Having previously worked as a subcontractor for the Tamai Group, Nakamura's father launched his own business salvaging sunken ships after World War II.
[9] Following the collapse of his father's business, Nakamura's family moved to Koga City, Fukuoka Prefecturewhen he was age 6; he remained there through the rest of his formal education.
In order to provide treatment for patients suffering from other diseases, he began to offer his own medical services independent of the Mission Hospital.
[9] In the mid-1990s, the World Health Organization began providing multi drug therapy (MDT) treatment free of cost to leprosy patients in a program originally funded by the Nippon Foundation.
[20] While international attention and aid to fight leprosy grew, Nakamura observed the number of Afghan patients with other infectious diseases continuing to increase without similar assistance, prompting him to establish a new hospital and expand his efforts.
[9] Beginning in 1991, Nakamura opened three clinics to provide medical service in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, where he identified malnutrition as a root cause for the health issues in the region.
From then onwards, he broadened the scope of his work into agriculture and irrigation, and focused on building canal projects in eastern Afghanistan.
[23] He drew inspiration from the irrigation canals that had been built in his native Fukuoka more than 200 years ago, without the aid of modern equipment.
[24] Nakamura built or restored eight additional canals, irrigating 16,000 hectares and supporting the livelihood of 600,000 people in the Gamberi desert on the outskirts of Jalalabad in Nangarhar Province.
Nakamura's wife and eldest daughter, as well as the Japanese Senior Vice Foreign Minister Keisuke Suzuki, laid flowers and observed a moment of silence as the body was unloaded from the airplane in Tokyo.
[39] According to the governor of Nangarhar province, Shah Mahmood Miakhel, Nakamura was cautioned by the provincial government about a plan to abduct or kill him six weeks before the attack.
[24] In Kabul, Nangarhar, Khost and Parwan provinces, as well as in New York and Delhi, candlelight vigils were held for Nakamura.
[44] Ashraf Ghani's spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi, said: "Dr Nakamura dedicated all his life to change the lives of Afghans, working on water management, dams and improving traditional agriculture."
"[47] Japanese Empress Masako, in a statement released by the Imperial Household Agency, mourned for the death of Nakamura.
[49] "Nakamura told me how unreasonable it was that we don't offer help to poor people living in mountainous areas who die of treatable diseases," he added.