I want to be the first player to show what Japanese batters can do in the major league.

I want to be the first player to show what Japanese batters can do in the major league.

I'm not a big guy and hopefully kids could look at me and see that I'm not muscular and not physically imposing, that I'm just a regular guy. So if somebody with a regular body can get into the record books, kids can look at that. That would make me happy.

I've always prided myself in not reveling in past accomplishments and focusing on future achievement, instead. That's been my career motto.

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.

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.

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