"We're not friends or anything, just business partners" - Shohei Ohtani drops hilarious assessment of his relationship with Ippei Mizuhara
Dodgers' newest star, Shohei Ohtani, shares an incredible friendship with his translator, Ippei Mizuhara. During a recent interview at Dodgers Fest, the two-way phenom was asked how the relationship between him and Mizuhara developed. The star had a witty response to the question.
"How did you develop the friendship with Ippei? Tell us quickly about that, how that all evolved. And now it has to be you answering and he can interpret your answer," interviewer at 'Dodger Fest' asked Ohtani.
"Yeah, we are not friends or anything. We're just business partners," Ohtani responded while laughing at his own joke.
Ohtani was also asked how he would respond to the atmosphere as he attended his first Dodger Fest in front of die-hard fans.
"It's my first time standing in front of all the Dodgers fans in my Dodgers jersey on. It's a great feeling. Can't wait," Ohtani said.
Ohtani also talked about how he thinks Dodgers fans are passionate and can't wait for what the future holds.
Shohei Ohtani's translator once spoke about how close people from the Dodgers star's life reach out to him for updates
In a 2018 interview with Mark Gubicza, Shohei Ohtani's translator, Ippei Mizuhara, spoke about how he gets consistent messages from Ohtani's close circle for his life updates. He also added that he believed the two-way phenom would do well in the future, considering he is talented and will eventually perform well on the field.
"Well, I get a lot of messages from Japan from people that are around Shohei, like his parents, some sponsors seeing how he's doing and stuff, so every time he does well on the field, I usually get 15 to 20 texts," Mizuhara said.
"I watched him for five years, so I knew he had the talent," Mizuhara added.
Shohei Ohtani will play his first match as a Dodger on March 20, as Dodgers will face a National League team, the San Diego Padres, in South Korea's Gocheok Sky Dome.