Ichiro’s parents run an Ichiro museum in Japan

Don’t look now, but the MLB regular season kicks off next week with the A’s and Mariners doing a two-game stint in Japan. The media is already over in the Land of the Rising Sun filing reports. That includes Seattle Times reporter Geoff Baker’s piece on an Ichiro museum owned and operated by Ichiro’s own parents in Toyoyama.

Nobuyuki and Yoshie Suzuki have run the business for a decade and at least one of them is present and greeting visitors every day. Inside you’ll find the Mariners outfielder’s major awards as well as items and photos from as far back as his early childhood.

There are family photographs of 1-month-old Ichiro Suzuki being held by his grandmother, of Ichiro on a sixth-grade field trip, of Ichiro pony riding with his father at a local racetrack. And then, there is the desk Ichiro used to do his homework in elementary school.

The desk has been set up with a mannequin — depicting a younger Ichiro — sitting at a chair with a jacket with a Men’s Vache Club label tossed over it.

Sounds totally fascinating and like the ultimate destination for the Ichiro stalkers die-hards. But I can think of one thing the museum is missing: Rob Dibble’s butt tattoo.

H/T Hardball Talk
Photo credit: Christopher Hanewinckel, US Presswire