August in Kansas City is hotter than two rats f**king in a sock.

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

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

When you mail Ichiro something from the States, you only have to use that name on the address and he gets it (in Japan). He's that big.

If I ever saw myself saying I'm excited going to Cleveland, I'd punch myself in the face, because I'm lying.

I heard that in the United States the level of baseball was the highest in the world. So it was only natural that I would want to go there, as a baseball player.

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.