Can anyone offer an explanation for why Kamita needs to specify that his name is not pronounced 'Kanda'?
Kamita is literally the combined readings of the words "神"(god-kami) and "田"(field-ta), not their readings for when used in a name, or when combined with other kanji. Additionally, the "t" sound at the beginning of a kanji often becomes a "d" when it is placed in the middle of a word (although it is hit or miss for when this happens).
Out of curiosity, I looked up "神田", and it turns out that it is an (archaic) word, pronounced kamita, meaning "field affiliated with a shrine (the tax-exempt proceeds of its harvest going to pay for shrine operations)" [1]
[1]http://jisho.org/words?jap=%E7%A5%9E%E7%94%B0&eng=&dict=edic...
http://jisho.org/words?jap=%E7%A5%9E%E7%94%B0&eng=&dict=enam...