TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Ichiro Suzuki, who had a total of 4,367 hits between Japan and the United States, was announced as one of the newest members of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame on Thursday.

The former Seattle Mariners outfielder was elected in his first year of eligibility in Japan before the U.S. National Baseball Hall of Fame announces its new members Tuesday, from a slate of candidates among recently retired players, including him.

The 51-year-old Suzuki's entry into Japan's hall came a day before the 30th anniversary of a devastating earthquake that killed more than 6,400 people in his then Orix BlueWave's home of Kobe and its adjacent areas.

"I'm extremely grateful to be welcomed into to the Hall of Fame," Suzuki said at the hall located at Tokyo Dome. "My big goal now, and my motivation, is meeting the children who will lead the future."

"As long as I can move, I want to be involved in baseball, and contribute to Japanese baseball."

Suzuki shot to stardom in 1994 when he became the first player in Nippon Professional Baseball with a 200-hit season after spending most of his first two pro seasons in the minors because his first pro skipper dismissed his unusual batting style with its pendulum leg swing.

"I questioned what many people considered to be conventional wisdom, and made the most important decisions on my own," Suzuki said. "A big factor behind my success has been trusting in my own intuition rather than the opinions of others."

After dominating Western League pitchers for two seasons, Suzuki caught a break when unorthodox Hall of Fame manager Akira Ogi took over at Orix in 1994. Ogi let the youngster demonstrate what he could do with his intuitive style, and Japanese baseball has never been the same since.

From that season, he led the Pacific League in batting average for seven consecutive years before moving to the major leagues in 2001.

Suzuki won three consecutive PL MVP awards from 1994 to 1996 while collecting seven Golden Glove awards.

He had a .353 career batting average over nine NPB seasons with 118 home runs, 529 RBIs and 199 stolen bases.

"At long last Ichiro is in the Hall of Fame," said Hall of Fame slugger Sadaharu Oh, SoftBank Hawks chairman and Suzuki's Japan manager at the 2006 World Baseball Classic.

"His genius at putting the bat on the ball was, I think, superhuman. His legacy in the game will never fade."

Suzuki was named on 323 of the 349 valid ballots submitted, with 262 votes needed to reach the 75 percent election threshold.

Also entering Japan's hall are former Chunichi Dragons closer Hitoki Iwase, 50, former Hanshin Tigers third baseman Masayuki Kakefu, 69, and former umpire Hiroya Tomizawa, 93.

Iwase is NPB's career leader in saves with 407 and mound appearances with 1,002.