International baseball star Ichiro Suzuki has turned down the nation's prestigious People's Honor Award for the third time, a government spokesperson said Friday.
Ichiro, who retired from professional baseball last month, instructed his agent to notify the government of his intention to decline the award, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press briefing in Tokyo.
The 45-year-old former major leaguer said he wishes to "devote himself so he can receive it when he draws a curtain on his life," according to Suga.