Ichiro Suzuki has joined the ranks of those who have enhanced America’s relations with Japan like the U.S. military men and women who leapt to Japan’s relief after the natural disaster of 2011 and Ambassador Edwin O. Reischauer who served in Tokyo from 1961 to 1966.

Ichiro, of course, is a Japanese professional baseball player with the New York Yankees. He slapped a stinging grounder past the Toronto Blue Jays third baseman last week to record the 4,000th hit of his career in Japan and America. Only two other pro players, Pete Rose and Ty Cobb, have passed the 4,000 mark.

Ichiro, who goes more by his given rather than his family name, said afterward he was “overwhelmed” by his teammates who poured out of the dugout to hug him and pat him on the back. “When my teammates came out to first base,” Ichiro said later, “that was very special.”

But it was the crowd in Yankee Stadium who provided the telling signal. Knowing he had 3,999 hits under his belt, they began chanting as he came to the plate: “I-chiro, I-chiro, I-chiro.” As soon as the ball he hit had zipped through the infield, the fans erupted into a standing ovation.

Ichiro waited until his teammates returned to the dugout, then took off his batting helmet and bowed to the fans in three different directions. You can take the baseball player out of Japan but you can’t take Japan out of the baseball player. “I wasn’t expecting so much joy and happiness from them,” Ichiro said later.

Ichiro’s feat — and the American applause — reverberated across the Pacific. After the game, the Japanese press queried Ichiro for 47 minutes. Their reports, pictures, and videos got top play in Japan. Even Prime Minister Shinzo Abe commented: “It’s an astronomical number. He’s set a new standard in baseball.”

There was also something very American about the scene. Here was an Asian athlete being pummeled in congratulation by teammates who were Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian. Ichiro’s compatriot, pitcher Hiroki Kuroda, presumably told Ichiro: “Omedeto (congratulations).”

The enthusiastic outburst of goodwill by the Yankee fans recalled the gratitude expressed by countless Japanese to Americans, formally and informally, for their help after Japan’s northeast coast was struck by an earthquake and tsunami and consequent nuclear leakage in March 2011.

Operation Tomodachi (Friend) ran from March 12 to May 4 during which 24,000 U.S. soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen were engaged along with 189 aircraft and 24 naval ships at a cost of $90 million. Said Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, “I have never been more encouraged by and proud of the fact that the United States is our ally.”

Goodwill between American and Japanese was personified by Ambassador Edwin Reischauer. He had been born in Japan, pursued a scholarly career in Japanese history at Harvard, was married to a Japanese of a prominent family, and spoke Japanese well enough to correct his interpreter if he made a mistake.

Reischauer adopted a diplomatic ploy that most Japanese found hard to counter. He wrapped himself in the mantle of “sensei,” or teacher, who are deeply respected in Japan, and proclaimed American policy. Even senior officials in Washington were intimidated. Said one: “Who’s going to argue with Ed Reischauer about Japan?”

Against this backdrop came Ichiro to add to the reservoir of goodwill. More than one Japanese have seen him as a samurai reflecting the best in the Japanese tradition of honor, service, and loyalty. A fan in Tokyo was quoted several years ago: “The way he hits is just like a samurai. I’ll bet he could split a mosquito with a sword.”

As might be expected, not everyone in America has seen Ichiro in a favorable light and some have ignited the kind of dispute that baseball fans relish as they sit around a pot-bellied stove to argue through a winter’s night. The main charge: Ichiro delivered about a third of his hits in the less competitive baseball league in Japan.

Among those who sniffed at Ichiro’s 4,000 hits has been Pete Rose, the retired player and manager who spent much of his professional career with the Cincinnati Reds and holds the record of 4256 hits. (Ty Cobb was second with 4191). Rose asserted that Ichiro’s hits in Japan didn’t count and the Japanese would never reach his record.

The captain of the New York Yankees, Derek Jeter, brushed that aside, saying Ichiro’s achievement was “pretty impressive. I don’t care if it’s 4,000 hits in Little League.”