ATLANTA — Five months into his new life in Major League Baseball, Kenshin Kawakami could be a pretty lonely guy by now.
Since February, he's been away from family and friends back in Japan. He has no one here that he is particularly close to and who speaks his language, unless you count Daichi Takasue, his 22-year-old interpreter and, by default, his closest companion.
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But that's not how Kawakami sees it.
And he doesn't need Takasue to answer this question for him: Are you happy?
"Yes," Kawakami said.
Kawakami signed a three-year $23-million contract with the Braves, which does make the transition to life away from home easier. He's also found a favorite Atlanta sushi spot — Hayakawa.
But he has also begun to show he can hold his own on the mound, which translates in any language.
Kawakami is 4-6 with a 4.25 ERA but over his last 10 starts, he has revealed himself as a more polished performer, with a 3-3 record and a 3.18 ERA. The win-total could be higher but like the rest of the rotation, he has suffered from poor run support on a regular basis.
Kawakami was scheduled to open the series Tuesday against the Phillies, but his start was pushed back to Friday to give him some extra time to recover from the contusion he suffered when was hit in the neck with a line drive last week against the New York Yankees.
The biggest adjustment Kawakami has faced, cultural or otherwise, is the strike zone. Known as a control pitcher in Japan, he walked 10 batters in his first 17 innings for the Braves and had to contend with high pitch-counts.
"It was different than what he expected," Takasue said of the strike zone.
"It's small," Kawakami said himself.
The game itself is bigger, Kawakami explained. In Japan, they play small ball, with even the third or fourth hitter prepared to bunt a runner to second when asked.
But he's enjoyed it just the same, feels welcomed by his teammates and doesn't focus on what or whom he's missing at home.
Even the word "miss" is hard to translate into Japanese, Takasue said.
"It's not too bad since I get a lot of calls from Japan from my friends," Kawakami said through Takasue. "I just try to think of it as a very far road trip."
When Kawakami finishes a night game on the east coast, it's just midday in Japan, so it's a good time to call. His parents plan to make a trip to Atlanta in August or September.
In the meantime, he has made a home for himself in the Sugarloaf neighborhood. And he's found a favorite shopping spot to buy things for the house.
"I like to go to Home Depot," Kawakami said through Takasue. "It's fun just to walk around because there are so many things, not like Japan."
He has also fed his car hobby here in the U.S. too. He recently bought a Maserati to go along with the Chevy Tahoe hybrid he has through the Braves.
The trick, he has found, is driving it around Atlanta.
"I have to be very careful so I don't get in an accident," Kawakami said through Takasue. "Safety first, because people drive fast over here."
He played golf in spring training but has put it aside for the season while he focuses on pitching. He's learning English — some Spanish, too — to get closer to his teammates. And when that falls short, he's got a locker-mate in Buddy Carlyle who played two years in Japan and speaks some Japanese. He also has a pitching coach in Roger McDowell who learned some Japanese to make Kawakami more comfortable.
"'Yoi' is 'really, really good,' " McDowell said. "'Ganbatte kudasai' is 'good luck and win please.' "
When it comes to strategy, McDowell can count on catcher Brian McCann to interpret what he wants. There is no language barrier in the signs for pitches and locations. And Kawakami is learning phrases too, so when McDowell says "control the body," he knows McDowell wants him to slow his motion down.
"My Japanese is getting a little bit better," McDowell said. "His English is getting a lot better, so somewhere in the middle, we kind of figure things out."
That goes for Kawakami off the field as well. Takasue said Kawakami has learned about 50 English phrases.
Like what, Kawakami is asked?
"Can I have a cheeseburger?" he said, with a smile. "My order come yet? Not yet?"
Carroll Rogers writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. E-mail: crogers(at)ajc.com.
