Ramon Ramirez hurried over to Junichi Tazawa in the middle of the Red Sox cluhouse with a childlike grin on his face. He leaned in closely to Tazawa's red headphones and nodded in approval.

“He likes to listen to [Spanish] reggae,” Ramirez said. “He can sing it too a little bit.”

It is one of the most unlikely relationships on the Red Sox – a relief pitcher from the Dominican Republic, who once relied on Manny Delcarmen as his translator, and a rookie Japanese starter who addresses the media through an interpreter. The language barrier could have kept them apart. Instead it has strengthened their friendship.

The two pitchers met this year in spring training. Ramirez had a limited knowledge of Japanese after playing ball overseas in 2000 and 2002. He knew enough of the language to communicate with Tazawa, and they clicked. The two share a similar sense of humor and look to find a reason to smile in every situation.

As it turns out, they also share an interest in each other's music.

“He told me, 'I love listening to music in Spanish. I want to learn,'” Ramirez recalled. “I said, 'Yeah, you can learn.' It helps me to learn Japanese too.”

They have perfected a system for communication since Tazawa was called up by the Red Sox in early August. Ramirez teaches Tazawa Spanish, Tazawa teaches Ramirez Japanese, and they hold conversations with each other in their consistently improving English.

“We talk in like three languages,” Ramirez said with a laugh.

After four seasons in the majors, Ramirez has friendships with several Japanese pitchers around the league. This year he has sought out Red Sox reliever Takashi Saito several times for advice in the bullpen. He was particularly impressed, though, by Tazawa's eagerness to adapt to life in the big leagues.

It is a stark contrast to the Red Sox recent issues with Daisuke Matsuzaka, who in published comments criticized the Red Sox’ shoulder strengthening program in favor of his native Japan's system. Ramirez believes Tazawa's age makes the 23-year-old more willing to accept new ways of life.

“It is so cool. I feel so happy to be with him because he's an unbelievable guy,” he said. “For me, you can't find a lot of Japanese guys like him because he's so young, he wants to learn more and more. He wants to do a lot of things in his life. This is good for him. I love that.”

Tazawa is so open that he let Ramirez cut his hair. There was one problem, however. Ramirez had never cut hair before. He could hardly contain the laughter as he explained how Tazawa let him take a scissors to his carefully styled 'do.

“This is the first time [I cut hair]. I said, 'Let me learn,'” an animated Ramirez explained through the chuckles. “When I cut his hair he told me I cut his hair like [a woman's wig]. It was so funny because when he showed me he was like, 'You killed me. You killed my hair.'

“I told him that I'll fix it for him and he told me, 'No no no no. No more. No more.' This is the funny thing. I told him, 'This is the part you have but I cut your hair different.' He told me, 'I don't like that. I like the Japanese hair cut.'”

The novice barber was not insulted by Tazawa's response. The fact that he put his coiffure on the line was yet another reason why Ramirez is one of his biggest fans off the field.

“The good point is that this is so funny to him,” Ramirez said. “This is my point about him. He tries to learn everything. He tries to be a happy person, like me. That's good. In Japan ... not too many Japanese people want to learn about other countries and he tries to be fun. He's young. He can do a lot of things in life.”

The hair will grow back, and with it, Ramirez and Tazawa will grow from their experiences together.

“The point is,” Ramirez said, “you don't lose anything if you want to learn.”