From the yellow hair of the French 98 to the Serie A champion hero, Hidetoshi Nakata is considered the greatest Japanese player of all time, and his influence extends far beyond football.
When Nakata became a player in the 1990s, Japanese football was still in its infancy. Although Japan has a wealth of amateur football experience, the professional J-League was not established until 1992.
Nakata admits that his path to football is difficult because there are no idols who can show him direction when he was growing up. As a result, he had to become a pioneer and trailblazer himself, the original idol of Japanese football and the first person to set foot on the European stage and make a name for himself.
There is no object to imitate in reality, Nakata poured his emotions into "Soccer Boy" ("Captain Winglet"), and the big wing with extraordinary talent and dream of winning the World Cup for Japan was Nakata's example, which also influenced his understanding of football.
From a very young age, Nakata had a different view of the game, for him, football is actually an art form, full of comic illustration lines and anime expressions to depict those wonderful stories, he believes that football should not be the embodiment of pragmatism.
It is said that Nakata dyed his hair bronze before the World Cup in France in order to attract attention, which did attract the attention of European scouts. Although Japan lost all three of his group stage matches, he was impressive, with aside his offbeat hair color, but also his skills.
Nakata won the favor of Perugia and won the Asian Footballer of the Year, but this is still far from his dream, and Japanese football has no chance of touching the Hercules Cup.
The father of the Big Air Wing is a captain who travels the world, which echoes Nakata's experience, which is 9650 kilometers from Japan to Italy.
Although Nakata was not the most well-rounded midfielder of his time, he captured the hearts of thousands of fans. Especially the individual performances at key moments of the game, as well as the enthusiastic attitude towards football, even make the storyline of the big empty wing seem bland.
After spending two seasons in Perugia, he helped the little-known small team secure a position in the middle of Serie A, which caused some big teams to covet. In the end, Rome signed the Japanese for more than 20 million euros, which was a considerable expense.
When Nakata first arrived at Rome, he was under pressure, people thought that Asian football was backward, and signing Nakata was just to sell a few more shirts and develop emerging markets. However, Nakata Hidetoshi broke the stereotype with practical actions, especially in the 2000-2001 season, at the Alpen Stadium in Juventus, the Red Wolves fell behind by two goals, and Capello let Nakata Hidetoshi replace Totti, which became the number one in football history.
The Japanese star first scored a long-range shot through van der Sar's goal before helping Montella equalise. In that season, Roma lifted the Serie A title trophy for the first time in 18 years, and the direct dialogue with Juventus was the most important turning point.
Even in Parma, which has gone downhill, Hidetoshi Nakata still makes the same contribution. The Milk Army spent 28 million euros to bring in Japanese, a record for the value of an Asian player, which was not broken until 2015, when Son Xingyu moved to Tottenham.
In the final of the Coppa Italia, Nakata's goal eventually became the decisive factor in the title. Despite his two years at Parma, he was plagued by injuries, but he still showed magic in his limited playing time.
The Korea-Japan World Cup was a watershed moment in Nakata's career, and after that, he went to Bologna, Fiorentina and Bolton, performing disappointingly. As a result, at the age of 29, Nakata announced his retirement, which is like a thunderbolt on a sunny day for Japanese football, which is rich in elderly players.
"I could feel that it was just for the money and not for the fun and pleasure, and the team around me didn't feel like home." That's where Nakata's personality lies, but it doesn't stop him from being loved in Italy.
From the moment his shiny bronze hair appeared at the World Cup, it was clear that Nakata's sense of fashion extended far beyond football. He also participates in fashion shows and various exhibitions during the competition, and his qualifications as a fashionista seem to be no less than that of the football field.
Today, however, Nakata has not settled down in the fashion world, and his main focus has been on traveling around the world and all parts of Japan to learn more about different cultures.
Like the adventures of the Big Wings, Nakata's journey around the world continues, but there is only one identity he will always remember – one of the greatest players in Japanese football.