Birth and childhood
Ichiro Suzuki was born in Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture, Japan on October 22,1973.

Aichi Prefecture is located approximately in the middle of the Japanese archipelago, with the Pacific Ocean on its southern shores. The prefecture spans an area of about 5,153 square kilometers and has a population of approximately 7.04 million. From the west to southeast lies a sprawling plain, incorporating the Nagoya metropolitan and Higashi-Mikawa city zones. This area features the ports of Nagoya and Kinuura on the coast, and considerable industry inland. Aichi's leading industries are automobile and machine tool manufacturing. The monetary value of product shipments from Aichi Prefecture has led Japan every year since 1977.

According to an article in USA Today:Ichiro Suzuki He was born to play ball. His father stuck a full-sized bat and glove in his hands at the age of 3, devoting his own life to make sure that his son would be the best player in Japan. Nobuyuki Suzuki, a tool manufacturer in Nagoya, 150 miles west of Tokyo, did everything for his son that Earl Woods did for Tiger in golf, Richard Williams did for Venus and Serena in tennis, and unfortunately, what Marv Marinovich did for Todd in football.

]Ichiro joined a baseball club and his father became the manager. Since they played games only on Sunday, Ichiro's father] practiced with his son everyday after school. It wasn't enough to practice until it was twilight. They went at it until it was time for bed.

Nearly every part of Ichiro's life was regimented. He made sure Ichiro's diet consisted of nothing but the finest proteins and vitamins. If Ichiro didn't care for what his mother cooked, according to folklore, his father would run to the store and buy him what he wanted. He would give his son foot massages. He knew his son was naturally right-handed, but he converted Ichiro to a lefty, knowing it would move him two steps closer to first base. He had his son hitting off 80-mph batting machines before he reached high school. He never missed a single practice, let alone a game at Aiko-Dai Meiden High School. [Today, there is an Ichiro Musuem in Nagoya City, run by his father.]

He attended high school at Aiko-Dai Meiden High School, and while there participated twice in Koshien the National High School Baseball Tournament. Ichiro graduated from high school in 1991 and was drafted by the Orix Blue Wave in the fourth round of the Japan free-agent draft, as an outfielder.

Orix Blue Wave - 1992
Ichiro Suzuki began his career with the minor league Blue Wave in 1992, hitting .366 in 58 games before he was called up to the majors where he batted .253 in 40 games. In 1993 he split time between the two clubs, hitting .371 with eight home runs in 48 games in the minors and batting .188 with a home run in 64 at-bats with the major league Blue Wave. Suzuki hit first professional home run on June 12, 1993 off the Kinetsu Buffalos' Hideo Nomo.

Ichiro in Hawaii in 1993
Ichiro played for the Hilo Stars of the [now defunct] Hawaii Winter Baseball League in 1993. (In the same league was Jason Giambi, currently of the Oakland A's.) HWBL teams had no affiliation with any major league teams. The HWBL was an off-season training ground for many college and minor league players and had groomed a few stars in its short existence, much like the Cape Cod league. To see baseball cards featuring Ichiro in his rookie years in Japan and the United States, go to the site http://www.ichirorookies.com/.

To learn how Ichiro became 'just' Ichiro, go to Page 2 of this biography.