From Jorge:

Dan Tani - Ichibo (Tani is Japanese-American; Ichi is Japanese for "one"
and means "first" or "best" when used as a prefix)
Dan Tani's nickname is an obvious play on 'Soichi'.

It's no more an obvious play on "Soichi" than it is on "Koichi". "Ichi"
is quite common. If "Ichibo" is a play on anyone's name, it would be
someone like baseball player Ichiro Suzuki - at least it's at the front
end of the name.

Let's be clear that Tani's nametag is written "BO-ICHI". And if the
similarity to Naguchi's name is not seen as obvious to everyone, then
that's fine with me. I myself happen to be totally open to the
possibility that the crew was having fun with a name that was similar
to *both* Soichi Naguchi *and* Ichiro Suzuki by flip-flopping surname-
first and surname-last East-West conventions. Or some other inside
joke that the crew has yet to advertise.


~ CT