In the envelope, there was a letter, a copy of first day cover and a few pictures. The letter was mainly written in simple English that I understood and with a paragraph in Japanese. The first-day cover was for commemorating the 35th JCI World Congress 1980 held in Osaka, Japan. Other than a few copies of pictures, there was a hand-drew "Friendship" picture made by Toyoda.

The package of

First Day Cover

Toyoda took the photograph that was printed on my name card and his photograph to make a "Friendship" card. Below our photographs, there were two hands shaking with each other. One hand was from a Japanese and the other was from a Singaporean. He also wrote the Kanji of "Friendship For Ever".

Mr and Mrs Toyoda

Hand-made Friendship Card

The author

I received that letter on 30th July 1982. It was two months after I wrote to him.

Toyoda and I first met each other in 1980 when he attended the JCI Asia Pacific Conference held in Singapore in 1980. Two years later, I attended the JCI Asia Pacific Conference 1982 in Miyazaki. Although Toyoda did not attend the Conference, he purposely took a day off to fly from Tokyo to Miyazaki to meet me. I was touched by his friendship and wrote a thank-you letter to him after returning home. That was the reason I received his envelope two months later. He also sent me a Happy Coat in a separate parcel.

The sincerity to maintain the friendship has made us sending New Year Cards, Birthday greetings and regards to each other. Since then, we keep in touch with each other and the friendship is truly for ever, as Toyoda expressed in his drawing.

The letter of July 1982 "Friendship for ever"

1983 New Year Card specially made by Toyoda