Bandmaster Michael Nakasone was appointed to the Royal Hawaiian Band in 2005. He is the only Bandmaster of the Royal Hawaiian Band to have had the distinction of being invited into the prestigious American Bandmaster's Association. Bandmaster Nakasone received the John Philip Sousa Foundation Legion of Honor award in 1995 and was chosen as Hawai‘i's State Teacher of the Year in 1996. That same year he received the United States Collegiate Wind Bands Citation of Honor Award, and in 2005, received the Hawai‘i Music Award for Lifetime Achievement.