There was a short interview with Tatsunori Hara on TV just now and I managed to jot down a few notes.

In his mind, Hara has separated the lineup into three distinct parts: top 3, middle 3, and bottom 3. He envisions the top 3 batters to be on base type players, the middle 3 to be the best all-around hitters in terms of power and average, and the last 3 to be igaisei (意外性) type players, or based on what he said, players that can create situations and have nothing to lose.

Hara considers Ichiro as the team leader, although there will probably be no defined "captain" on the team.

When asked about his thoughts on what happened to Japan during the Olympics, Hara mentioned how important conditioning was and how it can play a big role in how successful a team is.