The article below, written by Ishida, appeared in the Japanese magazine "Number.'' The translation is by Isamu Maruhashi, of Tokyo, who is a Japanese-to-English translator and lived in the United States for 10 years. His introduction is in italics.

Let me preface this translation by saying the article doesn't mention any of the circumstances surrounding the interview — no date, no location (other than Seattle), etc. It is implied that the author interviewed Ichiro because the blurb at the beginning of the piece says, "... so I asked Ichiro during his offseason in Seattle.''

Also, it should be noted that the article starts on page 100 of a 124-page magazine; i.e., it was buried pretty far in back. Of course, since most of the magazine was devoted to the Japanese baseball playoffs that's understandable, but the article also comes after an interview with a Japanese pitcher, an article on the MLB postseason, and an article on Hideki Matsui. Frankly, if the editors thought the contents were such a big deal, wouldn't they have put it in a more prominent location?

Finally, since the article is not in the regular interview format, I'll put down a summary (as background) of what the author wrote that leads up to the quotation, and then I'll translate the quotation.

Background info: The date was Oct. 2, 2005. The last game of the season. Despite the M's 69-92 losing record and the fact that they were playing another team that didn't make the playoffs, there were 35,300 fans in the stands. Ichiro was busily preparing for the game as he does with all day games. Not all the other players were preparing in the same way, however. Even though many of the players had just been called up from the minors, as soon as September came around some were counting the number of days to the offseason. There were some players who were devoting all their time to playing cards in the clubhouse. And just before the last game of the season, many players were busily preparing to leave for the offseason. Most of the players no longer had any personal goals and were just going through the motions.

Ichiro: "I wonder if there were any other players who thought about the meaning of that game? There were many things in that game that you couldn't have felt on opening day.

"I think that game is where we, as players, should have shown our worth. I think it is where a player really shows how he feels about baseball. I think it was a day in which everything you feel about baseball is condensed into a single day: What you are aiming for as a player; how you feel about baseball; how you feel about the fans; and the kind of pride you have. However, I didn't feel that from any of the players and I didn't see the manager or any of the coaches looking for that kind of atmosphere. The game just went along as if it were another day at the office. I really don't want to talk about stuff like this. But I feel I have to give a frank answer if I'm asked because there were fans who had paid money to watch a last-place team play. That's why I wanted to play as well as I could, and why I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to live up to the fans' expectations."

Background info: The Mariners ended the season last in the AL West with a 69-93 record. Ichiro had 206 hits in 679 ABs, 15 HR, 68 RBI, 33 steals and scored 111 runs. His .303 BA was 11th in the AL.

Ichiro: "What? There were only 10 players with better batting averages? It felt to me as if there were 20. How many players had 200 or more hits? Three? If [Derek] Jeter had 202, then I guess that makes me second. I guess that fact gives me some satisfaction. It goes without saying that it wasn't a fun season and that it was really tough. I have never thought, 'Why can't I get a hit?' so often, and there was no feeling of getting hits in bunches. Personally, I felt it was the worst season ever. Still, when I come up second in the number of hits when compared with others, I guess that doesn't feel too bad."

Background info: During spring training, Ichiro noticed a problem with his swing. His upper body was going into motion a little quicker than his lower body. He started to make adjustments on June 8 and he thought his adjustments were over by July 4. In that game against the Royals, he thought, "I'm all right now."

Ichiro: "When I realized that my lower body wasn't starting as quickly, I felt that this would make playing baseball easier. I sometimes feel that I have nothing left to discover technique-wise. For now, I don't see anything I have to learn and I'm not searching for anything. This could mean that this is the end technique-wise, but it might not be. However, this year really brought home the fact that batting isn't just about technique. You can't keep getting hits a whole season just with technique. My batting 'balance' was disrupted by factors other than technique. Things were really crazy. My mental state was upset and my body, too. I really felt how mental disruptions can cause physical problems."

Background info: The author is guessing that the "mental disruptions" that Ichiro mentions is the fact that Ichiro was never on the same page as the manager with regard to the kind of baseball the M's were going to play. One of the reasons he cites is that Hargrove said something like, "When things are tough, play for the team," during a team meeting, but Ichiro doesn't buy into this kind of thinking.

Ichiro: "I think winning teams put players before the team. They let the players show off their talent and play their roles; the result being that the players are playing as a team. Losing teams don't do that. Losing teams aren't able to harness their players' talent, so they can't win. They say things like 'play for the team' as an excuse for not being able to get the most out of their players, but that just leads to more losses. It's really a vicious cycle."

Background info: The author presents a number of anecdotes about Ichiro's relations with his managers, but the conclusion is that Ichiro was never able to figure out what manager Mike Hargrove was thinking. The author then goes on to lay the background for the most telling story from the Aug. 8 game against the Twins. This is the game in which the M's were facing Carlos Silva and Hargrove supposedly told the players to lay off the first pitch and make Silva throw more pitches. It seems that when Hargrove told the team this, Ichiro was in the clubhouse changing undershirts. Not knowing the manager's wishes, Ichiro swung at the first pitch in his next at-bat and flied out to right. Hargrove immediately called Ichiro over to reprimand him.

Ichiro: "I guess he didn't like the fact that a few players, including myself, were swinging at the first pitch and making outs. But if you don't swing at the first pitch, you're just making the pitcher throw a few more pitches. When you have a pitcher who throws that many strikes you might break his rhythm by hitting early, but I don't think you can do that by just watching strikes go by. Telling batters to watch strikes because they're making outs swinging at first-pitch strikes is too passive. You just find yourself in a hole and it makes the pitcher feel better. If the pitcher is throwing strikes early, you have to swing early. That makes both sides start to think. I think that would be a more aggressive approach. In addition, with the way I bat, I might swing at a pitch that is way out of the strike zone. However, that's because I feel that that pitch is in my hitting zone and that's the way I play."

Background info: The author writes that this incident figuratively tied Ichiro's hands. He says that Ichiro felt that Hargrove didn't want his players to swing at first-pitch strikes, so that made it difficult for him to go after those pitches. This led to doubt in Ichiro's approach and the author uses the following stats on first-pitch batting average as evidence:

2001: 42 for 95, .442

2002: 39 for 93, .419

2003: 39 for 102, .382

2004: 52 for 114, .456

2005: 13 for 65, .200

Ichiro: "The team environment is very important to be able to enjoy playing baseball. Depending on the environment, players may show more will power than they ever have or they might put up unheard-of numbers. I've always felt that it is very difficult to try to keep motivating yourself, and this season was proof of how difficult that is to do. I think that this might have been the most difficult challenge that I've ever faced. It was also a season in which I discovered my limitations.

"Of course I want to win, too. But the important thing is not to lose your motivation because you're losing. Whether you can question why the fans keep coming even though we've lost so many games will depend on the player. But the fans aren't coming just to watch the final out of a win. They come because they want to see players do things that they can't.

"That's why, whether you've had a winning season or a losing season, you have to keep preparing and show the fans your best. I want the Mariners to be a team that can do this most natural of things as if it came naturally. I think that fans will accept that kind of team whether it's winning or losing."

Background info: The author says that although Ichiro wants to stay in Seattle, he may be facing the most difficult time of his career. The reason is that he's feeling more responsibility than he ever had before.

Ichiro: "I want a comfortable level of stimulation. That's something that I'm always looking for. But I guess I have to become the type of player who can provide that kind of stimulation."

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