Okajima talks about his transition

boston.com - Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima talked about how tough his transition was to the major leagues and looked back at last season in an interview with a Japanese radio station recently.

Daigo Fujiwara, the Globe's graphic designer who does a great job of monitoring Japanese media for stuff about Daisuke Matsuzaka, Okajima and other stories of interest in Japanese baseball, translated the interview which was done by Terumi Yoshida of Bunka Hoso AM1134kHz Tokyo, and aired Monday morning in Japan (Sunday night our time).

Here is Part I of that interview; we'll give you Part 2 tomorrow.

Yoshida: First of all, congratulations for winning the Series.

Okajima: Thank you very much.

Y: Looking back on the season, both the team and you individually,
had a very successful season. What was it like from your perspective?

O: Well, going to America, a whole different country, I had no idea
what to expect and I was very worried about the new environment and
new language.

I didn't even have an interpreter at the beginning of the season.
In the first three month, I must admit that I was anxious and
uncomfortable in my new surroundings.