Michael Nakamura

Mike was originally from Buena Park, California. He settled in Fort Lauderdale, Florida via Chino Hills, Rancho Cucamonga, Pomona, and Costa Mesa, California. He attended Dickerson School, Orangeview Jr. High, Lexington Jr. High, Cypress High School and graduated from Cal Poly Pomona, cum laude.

Mike began his working career as a part-time stock clerk at the neighborhood Scotty's market. Before that, he'd gone gardening with his father, Roy, but was too young and ended up playing with dogs or ducks rather than pulling weeds and raking leaves. Later, in his professional life, Mike went on to work for UPS, Disney and DHL as a successful industrial engineer.

Being the athletic one in the family, Mike rode his green ten-speed bike everywhere until he replaced it with a tan, '78 Toyota Celica. Mike lettered in cross country and track while a Cypress Centurion. Later, his hobbies would include rock climbing, paint-ball, and photographing his Infiniti G37 against the Fort Lauderdale Beach sunrise.

Mike also loved to travel and was probably the second most traveled member of the family. He was able to squeeze in trips to Mexico City, Germany, Chicago, NYC, London, Prague and Toronto and made videos of each which he posted on YouTube. He also could count "local" jaunts to Georgia, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Detroit, South Carolina, Indiana, Las Vegas, Baltimore, Reno, and numerous trips back to Southern California. Not to mention all the cities and states he passed through when he and brother Dave drove his belongings to Fort Lauderdale. Being in Florida, Mike enjoyed being the eyes and ears of the family, recording shuttle launches at the Kennedy Space Center or the maiden voyage of the latest "world's largest cruise ship" docking in Fort Lauderdale. He happily hosted any friends or family who happened to be leaving on a Caribbean cruise ship from his adopted home town.

Mike was a prototypical "techie," fascinated with, and an expert of, high tech gadgets. He'd upgrade his car stereo controls with complicated ergonomic knobs to confuse anyone who borrowed his car. He installed the latest biometric door locks on his home to confound any but the most tech savvy of burglars. More recently, you rarely saw him without a GoPro camera in hand. Mike also loved and appreciated toys, especially the classics. Looking around his condo you might think you were at a toy store with shelves stocked with a Rubik's Cube, Sponge Bob and Patrick, Mr. Gru and his minions, or Yoda and R2-D2 figurines. In his home he had everything from night-vision binoculars to a classic Etch-a-Sketch drawing pad. For Christmas you would never expect a sweater or gift card from Mike; rather you'd get a "neat" toy or gadget even if you were over 50 and not one of the nieces or nephews.

The other passions that Mike had were his family and his Japanese roots. His friends in Florida have mentioned how Mike looked forward to visiting with family, especially for Mochi-Tsuki. They mentioned that he shared his home movies with them whenever he got back to Florida. While working at Disney, Mike had the opportunity to purchase a commemorative paver which would be displayed on the walkway between Disneyland and California Adventure. Instead of commemorating one person or one event, Mike chose to list all four families descended from his great-grandfather, Rintaro Kikuchi. Mike chose the names: Nakamura, Watanabe, Morita, and Kikuchi to be immortalized in stone. He would later do the same during a floating lantern ceremony in Florida opening the obon season, again having all four family names listed on the lanterns.

One could easily see the Japanese influence in Mike's home. He was probably the only one in his condominium building to have a Japanese rock garden on his 10th floor balcony. He also had a wooden samurai sword, Badtz-Maru toys and if it had the word "ninja" on it, he had it displayed somewhere in his house. During this time, if any niece or nephew turned 1 year old they could expect to get a Totoro video cassette from Mike. More recently they could expect to receive the DVD version.

Everyone who knew Mike are proud of what he had accomplished, and how he lived in his all-too-short life. Uncle Mike will be missed.