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.

In 2000 Ichiro was still a year away from being eligible for free agency but the Blue Wave was no longer among Japan's best teams. Ichiro was variously quoted as saying "I want to win in a way that the opponent would think 'we cannot catch up with Japan for the coming 30 years'. According to Ichiro "It bordered on hazing and I suffered a lot.

Ichiro is the first MLB player to enter the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame (The Golden Players Club). Ichiro Suzuki (鈴木 一朗 Suzuki Ichirō?) usually known simply as Ichiro (イチロー Ichirō?) (born October 22 1973) is a Japanese-born professional baseball outfielder who is currently with the New York Yankees. Ichiro has establiIchiro Suzukid a number of batting records including MLB's single-season record for hits with 262.