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1. She's not ready to take over the family business...
Mirai's parents, who are Japanese immigrants, own and operate a sushi restaurant in Arcadia, Calif., an eastern suburb of Los Angeles. "It's kind of small," she says. "But the food is just as good as the Beverly Hills restaurants." Mirai, who is an only child, has worked at the cash register during the summer because she says that she has "a connection with money," but mostly she does homework at the restaurant, which the deeply private Nagasus have declined to name. "I like everything my dad makes because it just feels like all of his hard work, you can taste it in everything he make," she says.
But will Mirai follow her father into sushi? "Um, no," she giggles. "I tried to cut fish once, or, I tried to cut cheese the way my dad cuts fish. And I cut my hand. " She hasn't been close to a knife since.
2. ...But she might want to be a TV commentator
Though Mirai struggled with her skating last season, she ended up going to the 2009 Worlds anyway, as an announcer for Japan's Fuji TV. After the Fuji hair and make-up artists cut Mirai's hair to a short bob (she liked it, but she's growing it out), she got to play the role of commentator - in Japanese - for Alissa Czisny's short program. "It was a lot of fun, but it was a little short for me," she says. "So, hopefully next time I'll be able to commentate for all of the ladies performances." Mirai speaks a blend Japanese and English at home with her parents, but is taking classes with the goal of achieving fluency by the time she turns 18. Besides, she says, if she wants to do more work with Fuji, "I would definitely have to improve my Japanese vocabulary."
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3. She credits her mom with her speed
Mirai stumbled into skating after a rainy day cancelled the family's plans to play golf. "I've seen pictures of myself swinging the club," she says. "I've got to say I really didn't have any talent there." And in her mind, she had minimal natural talent in skating. "I think the fact that I was really bad at ice skating made me want to stick with it and get better at it. I would keep tripping and falling and I couldn't glide at first," she recalls. But Mirai has a stubborn, competitive streak that was evident even as a five-year-old. "I used to skate with my mom and she had skating experience, so she would always try to make me race her," she says. "I would always be the slower one so over time I just kept working harder and harder until I finally was able to pass her." Now, Mirai considers speed as the factor that sets her skating apart from everyone else.
4. In her eyes, she's just another nerdy school kid
Mirai went to her prom in May, wearing a fuchsia dress by Japanese designer Tadashi Shoji. ("Queen Latifah has worn his dresses," Mirai says. "It's beautiful.") Her date was a friend whom she sits by at lunch. Any hint of a normal life she can have, she treasures. "It's just a lot of fun to be one of those kids in with everyone in class and protest when you don't want to do homework and then not pay attention and daydream," she says. "Once in a while I'll be recognized but other than that I'm just a nerdy school kid."
5. She's saving up for a car
Mirai had some driving lessons from world champion Evan Lysacek over the summer, so perhaps that's where she got her taste. Mirai says she wants a "really nice" first car, but that her parents won't buy one for her. Though she's not exactly sure what kind she wants, she does know that she wants a lot of the latest technology in the vehicle. "I really want one of those GPS touch screens," she says.
