When I look at the records and see where my place in the history of the game (in Japan with Orix) might be, I guess you could say it was a good decision to come here. It's not just me. Maybe I'll have an effect on others in the international part of the game.

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

I'm told I either look bigger than I do on television or that I look smaller than I look on television. No one seems to think I look the same size.

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

I've made far too many mistakes. That's the way I feel.

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.

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