Japanese legend Ichiro Suzuki was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame for the first time, but he only received 323/349 votes, and 26 Japanese journalists did not vote for him (92.6% of the vote, 75% of the threshold), causing surprise and controversy among fans in the United States and Japan. Challenging for a unanimous vote for the U.S. Baseball Hall of Fame is certainly the most difficult, and fans expected that Ichiro would have no problem being inducted into the Japanese Hall of Fame unanimously, but lost so many votes.

Tatsuro Hirooka, a veteran of the soccer world and former head coach of Seibu, who will turn 93 next month, explained the issue personally: "If I had a vote, I wouldn't vote for Ichiro. I can understand the journalists who didn't vote for him, because there is no strict definition of criteria for induction into the Hall of Fame, and each voter can judge based on his or her own values."

According to the Japan Wild Football Commendation Committee, there are four evaluation criteria for a top-notch person: (1) record and skill in the game, (2) outstanding achievements in the development of the team and baseball, (3) sincere attitude and sportsmanship towards baseball, and (4) conveying the charm of baseball to fans. In addition, it is required that the selected candidates must be long-term contributors, and players with only "short-term activity" and "special records" will not be considered.

Hirooka pointed out that Ichiro played 9 years in Japan and 19 years in the major leagues, and he did not leave the peak of his career to Japanese fans, and his great achievements in the United States unfortunately had a "counterproduct" on the Japanese temple, and some reporters really did not take into account deeds outside of Japan. There is also nothing wrong with Ichiro's personality, but he attended the commendation committee notification ceremony and did not attend the press conference, which may cause displeasure to reporters.

Japanese fans criticized this as the result of the "emotional theory of third-rate journalists", the result of putting personal emotions with the vote, and great baseball players never need to be saints, let alone vote for media popularity. Ichiro has contributed to the country in major international classics and has been the face of the "Japanese samurai" for many years, and now some fans are expecting Ichiro to get a higher vote rate at the American Hall of Fame to slap Japanese reporters in the face.