As a member of the Saitama Seibu Lions, Shogo Akiyama batted .301, earned two Pacific League Golden Glove Awards and played in five all-star games.
The Japanese media wasn’t about to let him go to Goodyear alone.
Akiyama spent his first days at Reds camp accompanied by a gaggle of reporters from Japanese news agencies and his translator, Luke Shinoda, who helped him communicate with their American counterparts.