I had a dream. And I made that dream come true.

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.

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.

If I'm in a slump, I ask myself for advice.

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

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

Some people enjoy taking a light stroll in the morning and that gives them relief and that sort of feeling. That is what I gain by practicing, by swinging the bat.