By Jim Allen, KYODO NEWS - Nov 12, 2018 - 10:50 | Sports, All

Although the Yomiuri Giants long for the day when former slugger Hideki Matsui returns to manage the storied club in Japan's Central League, Matsui appears to be in no hurry.

Matsui did return to his old home park, Tokyo Dome, this past week, but as a coach for the MLB All-Stars in their six-game series against Japan's national team. Now 44, the left-handed slugger hit 332 home runs in his 10 years with the Giants and another 175 in the majors -- most of them in his seven seasons with the New York Yankees.

(Matsui (L) gets ready to congratulate Carlos Santana after his three-run homer in Game 1 of the Japan All-Star Series)

He now lives in New York with his wife and two children, while working for the Yankees' front office as a batting adviser in their minor league system.

"My family really likes (living in New York)," Matsui told Kyodo News on Saturday.

He said part of the appeal is privacy that would be hard to come by in his homeland, where before he became a Yankee in 2003 he was the most popular player on the nation's most famous team.

"That part is really different and really nice," he said. "People don't come up to me and ask for autographs on the street (in New York). They smile and wave, but that's about it."

Until last year, Matsui had been playing in a recreational baseball league in New York, batting right-handed to even things up. But this year he said he could not take part because he was gone for much of the summer.

But through the Yankees he is never far from the game.

"My job involves dealing with minor leaguers and working with coaches as an adviser," he said.

"There are fun times, but also times when it's not fun. Of course, I want every player to give it his best shot and do well. But you also know that everyone is not going to make it to the top. Because you deal with a player and then he'll be gone. That part is a little sad."

(File photo taken April 8, 2003 shows Matsui hitting his first home run for the New York Yankees)

When Matsui came out of high school 25 years ago as a feared slugger, there seemed virtually no chance he would fail to make it all the way to the top. But the story that goes with his rise to stardom is the long hours he spent as a young pro, sweating and working under the tutelage of famed Giants star Shigeo Nagashima, his first manager.

So when Matsui is working with youngsters in the Yankees' system, does it bring his own unique apprenticeship to mind?

"No, not in the least," he said. "You have to understand that the way one coaches and teaches over there is completely different. I have to match my guidance to their norms."

"I was lucky to have received that (training under Nagashima)," he added.