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.

In baseball, even the best hitters fail seven of ten times, and of those seven failures there are different reasons why. Some are personal failures, others are losses to the pitcher. You just get beat. In those personal failures, I felt I could have done better.

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 played on the 2001 team, the team that won the most games in the history of Major League Baseball and also I played on one of the worst teams of Major League Baseball.

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

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

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