Hidetoshi Nakata - Outside of Football

Outside of Football

Outside of football Nakata has shown interest in fashion, attending runway shows, wearing designer clothing and sporting colorful haircuts. He dyed his hair blond for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, hoping to attract the attention of European scouts, and Japanese hairstylist Aki Watanabe credits him as a trendsetter in hair styles. Andrea Tenerani, photographer for GQ in Italy said of Nakata, "He's perfect; he's like a model. And he's totally obsessed with fashion," and Calvin Klein designer Italo Zucchelli said, "(Nakata) plays with fashion like all of them now, but in a cooler, more sophisticated way than many others." He is one of the models featuring the Calvin Klein underwear campaign 2010. He was featured in the July 2007 US version of GQ with a 12-page spread on Fall Fashion. He was featured in GQ in his home country in December 2011.

Often regarded as the "Asian" David Beckham, because of his obsession with fashion and his status as a role model for many Asian Football exports to Europe, Nakata is currently also an Editor-at-Large at Monocle at the invitation of his friend Tyler Brûlé, who also serves as the magazine's Editor-in-Chief.

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