Everybody in the states is so relaxed, and everybody in Japan is so uptight.

When people get placed upon a pedestal - when they start chasing after that person on the pedestal - they become mannequin-like.

Baseball has been the greatest things in my life, but the cameras and the media surrounding baseball have not been fun. It's unnecessary. How many times do they see me stretch? How many times do they see me walk? It is a big concern. If it affected the team in a negative way, I don't know what I would do.

Personally, I don't like the term 'success.' It's too arbitrary and too relative a thing. It's usually someone else's definition, not yours.

The Japanese have a strong tendency to suppress their own feelings. That's the Japanese character. They kill their own emotions.

The more that Japanese players go to the big leagues to play and succeed, the more that will serve to inspire young kids in Japan to want to become baseball players when they grow up.

I wanted the challenge of competing against the best players in the world.