Highly touted Japanese lefthander Yusei Kikuchi has turned down offers from several Major League Baseball teams. He will continue to pitch in his native Japan. "I have decided to play in Japan, not for a MLB team, and I would like do my best here," Kikuchi said in a televised interview on Sunday. "I'll try to take on the world once I have become the number one pitcher in Japan." Kikuchi is just 18 years old.