Japanese superstar Ichiro Suzuki apparently didn't have an ounce of trouble adjusting to life - and baseball - when he arrived in the United States last year. If anything, it was opposing pitchers who found themselves suffering from culture shock.

Ichi-mania infected baseball fans all over the country as Suzuki led the Seattle Mariners to a 116-win season and was named American League Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player for a performance that included the AL batting title and a major-league rookie record of 242 hits. Not since Mexican pitcher Fernando Valenzuela burst into the spotlight in 1981 had a foreign-born player made such a dynamic imprint on American baseball.

Of course, Suzuki was not the first Japanese player to make it big in the majors. Pitcher Hideo Nomo was the first player to have great success in America, and Mariners reliever Kazuhiro Sasaki immediately established himself as one of the game's best closers in his first season (2000) in the States. But Suzuki's emergence as the first impact position player from the Pacific Rim completed a quantum shift in the focus of baseball's international player development efforts.

He hasn't let up. Suzuki is third in the AL in batting with a .339 average, proving that he was no one-year wonder. Sasaki also remains at the top of his game, on pace to save more than 40 games for the second year in a row.

"I think it has been great for the game," said Major League Baseball's executive vice president of baseball operations, Sandy Alderson, "not only everything that these players have brought, but also their following. Knowing the interest that exists in Japan, I think that's exciting. I think it has brought some new energy to the game and some debate over the different styles of play in the game."

The growing Asian presence also includes two star-quality pitchers from South Korea - Texas Rangers starter Chan Ho Park and Arizona Diamondbacks closer Byung-Hyun Kim - and several minor-league prospects from Taiwan, though mandatory military service requirements and territorial rights issues can complicate player development efforts in those countries.

Japan clearly has the most developed baseball infrastructure in the region. The first Japanese-born player to appear in the majors was Masanori Murakami, who played briefly for the San Francisco Giants in 1964-1965. Nomo was the first player from the Japanese Pacific or Central League to jump to the major leagues when he joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995.

Suzuki became the first Japanese position player to sign a major-league contract and quickly overcame any American misconceptions about the ability of Asian hitters to maintain a high level of offensive production. Now, there is speculation in Japan that superstar outfielder Hideki Matsui will leave the Yomiuri (Tokyo) Giants after this season to sign with an American team.

Matsui would burst another stereotype. He is Japan's premier power hitter, a 40-homer threat who does not conform to Japanese baseball's traditional emphasis on speed, fundamentals and finesse. He already plays baseball American-style - he hit four home runs in last year's Japan Series that measured more than 450 feet - but there is some question whether he would be able to replicate his power numbers against American pitching.

The Mariners and a number of other major-league clubs are willing to risk millions to find out, but the Yomiuri Giants are expected to offer even more money to persuade him to remain in Japan. For Matsui, it might be more a matter of reaching the next level of competition than a higher level of compensation.

"The first wave of Japanese players that came over have had success," said Mariners manager Lou Piniella. "Obviously, now, it's another area for major-league baseball to find talent. I'm sure there are a few other players over there. Because of the success of Ichi, Sasaki and the others, they want to come over and try."

They have trickled in because of a rule in the Japanese equivalent of Major League Baseball's Basic Agreement that requires most players to complete 10 years of service before they can become free agents. The average age of the players who have jumped to the American major leagues is about 28, giving them a level of experience that might contribute to their immediate success.

Dodgers left-handed starting pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii is the latest instant crossover star, winning 11 games in the first half of the 2002 season and nearly earning a place on the National League All-Star team. With the possible exception of pitcher Hideki Irabu, who suffered through a bumpy adjustment period with the New York Yankees, the Japanese players have been welcomed enthusiastically by fans and their new American teammates.

"I think it's essential for the game," Anaheim Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "There are incredibly talented players from all parts of the world. They should be represented in a league if you want to call it the best league in the world."

For decades, baseball's main source of foreign talent was Latin America, but teams are focusing more and more on the Far East as a fertile player development region. Major-league franchises keep tabs on top Asian players in much the same way they monitor baseball in other countries - by building relationships with foreign teams and hiring local scouts to analyze and recommend players. That process will become even more important if Major League Baseball completes plans to institute a worldwide amateur draft.

It's partly out of necessity, because over-expansion and the proliferation of other professional sports have cut deeply into baseball's traditional talent pool, forcing teams to scout more heavily overseas.

Whatever the reason, Yankees manager Joe Torre said nothing could be healthier for the sport.

"The game is so much better," Torre said. "You saw what happened when Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby came along. It made the game so much better ... and now the Latin and Asian players are doing the same thing."

Torre should know. He has won four world titles during the past six years, and he has done so with a diverse roster that included Irabu, Puerto Rican-born outfielder Bernie Williams, Cuban defector Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, Australian reliever Graeme Lloyd and Panamanian pitchers Mariano Rivera and Ramiro Mendoza.

The Asian influx is just another big step in the evolution of major-league baseball from national pastime to international showcase.

"We're getting the Far East involved," Torre said. "When I was a player, those players couldn't compete in the major leagues because they weren't strong enough and most of their pitchers were trick pitchers.

"Ichiro, Sasaki ... these guys are power players. That's the part that has really changed. We're getting a lot greater Asian influence, and they are not just role players."

Suzuki, with his name splattered all over the league leader sheet for the past 1 1/2 seasons, provided the proof that Japanese players could not only compete in the American major leagues, but also rise above the competition.

"From the first day you saw him last spring, you knew he was a player," Scioscia said. "When you see him, you just say, 'Wow.' Not only because of his physical ability. He's also an incredibly intelligent player. He certainly raises the bar as far as expectations that we'll have for future players from Japan. It might be unfair to some of the guys who follow him."

While American baseball officials celebrate the influx of a new wave of talented foreign players, there is some concern that the greater emphasis on American major-league baseball in Japan will diminish the status of Japanese professional baseball.

The tremendous success of Suzuki and Sasaki has, by some accounts, made the Mariners the second-most-popular team in Japan, behind the Yomiuri Giants.

The Dodgers, with Nomo and Ishii in the same starting rotation, can't be far behind.

Overall, television ratings for Japanese baseball are trending downward, and it's just as likely that highlights from American major-league baseball will lead the nightly sports roundup shows as those of the local teams.

"It is a fact that the popularity of Japanese baseball is going down," Sasaki said through an interpreter. "You can tell that by the ratings. I don't know if people are worried. I just wanted to come here and play. That's all I'm thinking about now.

"When I was a kid, they didn't air many major-league baseball games in Japan. Now you're getting a lot of games televised in Japan. Little kids are watching, and their view of baseball might be a little different than when I was a boy."

Suzuki, whose popularity in Japan has skyrocketed since he jumped from the Orix Blue Wave to the Mariners, said that isn't necessarily bad for baseball in Japan.

"I really don't know which direction baseball [in Japan] is going to go," Suzuki said through an interpreter, "but I think all the attention we're getting from Japan - all the kids watching me play baseball - will cause more kids to play baseball. I think that's a positive thing."

Others worry that the exodus is only beginning - that more and more players will leave Japan, diminishing the overall level of talent in the Pacific and Central leagues and further eroding fan interest.

"That's what we believe," said Hidemi Kittaka of the Kyodo News Service, "but people in the Japanese commissioner's office don't want to admit it. I would guess that's one of the big reasons [for the decline in television ratings], since Japanese baseball fans love American baseball and Japanese players are doing so well."

If the loss of several star players is drawing fans and media attention away from Japanese baseball, it is not by design. The American major leagues have long supported the Japanese game and for many years enforced a gentlemen's agreement not to raid Japanese rosters.

"There certainly is no effort on our part to undermine baseball in Japan," Alderson said, "but globalization has certain consequences. That may not necessarily be what we want to happen, but I don't know how we can change that. Hopefully, the popularity of baseball around the world will have a positive effect on baseball in Japan."