Hidetoshi Nakata, Cavaliere OSSI (Zhong Tian  Ying Shou , Nakata Hidetoshi, born 22 January 1977) is a former Japanese football player who played as a midfielder. He is widely considered to be one of the most famous Asian footballers of his generation, and one of the greatest Japanese players of all time. 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 FIFA World Cup tournaments (1998, 2002 and 2006) and competed in the Olympics twice (1996 and 2000). 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.
Outside football
Outside 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. Japanese hairstylist Aki Watanabe credits him as a trendsetter. 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." 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 a Japanese David Beckham, because of his obsession with fashion and his status as a role model for many Asian Football exports to Europe, Nakata is an editor-at-large at Monocle at the invitation of his friend Tyler Brule, who 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.  In recent years, he has also been an active supporter of Special Olympics football and participated in the 2010 Special Olympics Unity Cup in South Africa during the World Cup. Nakata was named a Global Ambassador for Special Olympics in 2014.  Towards the end of 2015, Nakata entered into a partnership with Kee Club in Hong Kong to open Koko, a Hong Kong-based restaurant that serves sakes created by Nakata himself. He has developed his own line of sake as well as creating his own mobile educational app, "Sakenomy". Expressing interest in educating the public about sake, Nakata stated, "People recognise brands of wine but not usually brands of sake. There is a lack of information and branding when it comes to sake. That's why I thought I needed to create a brand that people can recognise and understand. My purpose is to expand the market for all sake not just my own. You can pair any type of cuisine with sake. It can go with French, Italian, even Chinese food, not just Japanese cuisine."

Q: What was his life like outside of football?
A: Outside football, Nakata has shown interest in fashion, attending runway shows, wearing designer clothing and sporting colorful haircuts.
Is he successful in this?
Japanese hairstylist Aki Watanabe credits him as a trendsetter.
Japanese hairstylist Aki Watanabe credits him as a trendsetter.