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THURSDAY. APRIL 22. 2004 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 9B
They Touched Me
i/
Ryochi Sasakawa
By Wayne Smith
Jeanne Comer was executive interest rates.
secretary to a high aerospace offi
cial in Dayton, Ohio, where the
Wright brothers had invented pow
ered flight. Having heard of the for
mation of The Friendship Force,
Jeanne called me. She was very
polite and also very insistent. She
told me that the concept of The
Friendship Force would be very
well received in Dayton. Would I
visit Dayton and help her launch a
chapter of the organization there?
I agreed to make the journey. I n
those days there was not enough
money for me to fly to Dayton, so I
drove. I took with me some reading
material.
Included in it was some “junk
mail” that I thought might be worth
a casual glance. When I stopped for
the night, I read in a magazine that
a Japanese man named Ryochi
Sasakawa had established a founda
tion with the philosophy of
“Humanity is one. We all are
brothers and sisters.” Hummm.
As I read more I learned that Mr.
Sasakawa’s foundation had distrib
uted eleven billion dollars since the
mid-1960s to further its cause. I
wrote a letter to him from that
motel room. Could I visit him in
Tokyo and tell him about The
Friendship Force?
Expecting an answer or at least
an acknowledgement of my letter,
none came promptly. In fact, even
though I mailed my letter in 1978 it
was 1981 when I received a letter
from Mr. Sasakawa’s staff.
In 1981 the mainland Chinese
wanted to honor President Jimmy
Carter, so they invited him and
Rosalynn to Beijing. On their way
home they stopped in Tokyo for a
brief visit.
Mr. Sasakawa had learned of the
impending visit to Japan by the
Carters, who were strong Friend
ship Force supporters.
Since 1978 when I had written
Mr. Sasakawa, I had visited Japan a
number of times, but without a
response to my letter I did not feel
comfortable in approaching him.
Meanwhile, The Friendship Force
had become a reality in that nation.
I had come to know Mike Mans
field, United States Ambassador to
Japan.
He was the kind of man who
would receive guests in his office
and personally pour coffee for
them.
I asked him if he knew Ryochi
Sasakawa. Indeed, he did. He told
me that Sasakawa was a controver
sial figure in Japan. He had manu
factured armaments during the war
with America.
After the war, he was convicted
of being a war criminal and served
several months in Sugamo Prison.
While in prison, Sasakawa had
an epiphany. He came to the con
viction that wars never really
solved anything. He was convinced
that they only caused death and
destruction and left problems
behind that lingered for genera
tions. It was during this time that he
formulated his philosophy that
“Humanity is one. We all are broth
ers and sisters.” He vowed that
when released from prison he
would dedicate his skills to work
for peace between the peoples of
the world.
Ambassador Mansfield told me
that Mr. Sasakawa had persuaded
the Japanese Government to grant
him a monopoly on parmutuel bet
ting in his nation. Wagers were
placed on motorboat racing in large
stadiums. Instead of a playing field,
the stands looked on to large artifi
cial arenas filled with water. In a
way similar to a NASCAR race,
motorboats raced around the arena.
The Government of Japan had
put stringent operating restrictions
on this monopoly. First of all, the
foundation was required to pay
winning bettors.
Then under the scrutiny of gov
ernment authorities, the foundation
was permitted to retain three per
cent of what remained after meet
ing operating expenses. Of this
three percent, two and one half per
cent had to be loaned to start-up
industries in Japan at very low
The remaining one half of one
percent was to be donated to organ
izations engaged in helping make
the world a more peaceful place.
I asked Ambassador Mansfield
if he thought it would be appropri
ate for President and Mrs. Carter to
meet Mr. Sasakawa.
He saw no problem with this
suggestion. I asked if I could attend
the reception for the Carters that
was to be held that night at the
American Embassy. He was happy
to extend the invitation to me, and
when the Carters came through the
reception line they were amazed to
see me waiting to greet them. They
wanted to know what I was doing
in Tokyo. I answered their question
with a question: “What are you
doing in the morning at 7:30?”
Early risers, they informed me
that they were planning to visit the
Municipal Fish Market at 5:30.
“Fine,” I replied. “That means you
will be back at the Okura Hotel
where you are staying by 7:30. At
that point I will need thirty minutes
of your time.
“I want you to meet Mr. Ryochi
Sasakawa. If you do this,” I con
tinued, “I believe that he will give
The Friendship Force all of the
financial support it will ever need.”
The Carters did not know that I
had already told Mr. Sasakawa’s
people that the Carters would meet
him.
But, knowing the President and
Rosalynn as I did, I was sure that
they would not pass up a rare
opportunity such as this.
The meeting turned out well for
them because when they started
The Carter Center, Mr. Sasakawa
was the first person to make a size
able donation toward its beginning.
His foundation eventually gave
over $25 million to The Carter
Center.
The money was used to relieve
blindness in Africa, for the devel
opment of agricultural innovations
that permitted farmers in Third
World countries to more than
quadruple their crops, and for a
number of other good deeds.
At precisely 7:30 a.m. the next
morning, Jimmy and Rosalynn
Carter shook hands with Ryochi
Sasakawa. The conversation was
polite, and it quickly became evi
dent that this would not be their last
meeting.
As the group parted, one of Mr.
Sasakawa’s assistants very politely
asked if I would be able to call on
Mr. Sasakawa that afternoon at the
headquarters of the Sasakawa
Foundation.
He told me that his boss wanted
to learn more about The Friendship
Force and see if his foundation
could be of any help.
When I met him, Ryochi
Sasakawa was 83 and in excellent
health. I distinctly remember that
his beautiful tailor-made suit was
lined in red silk, and it peeked
through when he opened his jacket.
He spoke no English, but his eyes
and the expression on his face were
like electricity. Through his inter
preter he asked me to tell him about
my organization. Then he told me
that he thought what was happen
ing was wonderful. Finally, he
wanted to know if this work could
expand more rapidly with addition
al funds -- exactly the question I
was hoping he would ask.
Mr. Sasakawa asked me how
much money I thought The Friend
ship Force needed to help it accom
plish its goals more quickly. With
out blinking an eye I replied, “One
hundred million dollars.” And
without blinking an eye, Sasakawa
said, “I will give it.”
“You will?” I was overjoyed!
“Yes,” he said, “it is what you said
that you need and I have it. In fact I
have thirty six billion dollars of
gold that my people have discov
ered on the bottom of the Sea of
Japan. Since I believe in what you
are doing and your ability to make
your dream of world friendship
come true, why should I not give
you what you have asked for? I still
will have thirty-five billion and
nine hundred million dollars left for
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other causes after giving what you
have requested.”
I knew this man was not crazy.
But, thirty six billion dollars of
gold at the bottom of the Sea of
Japan? Did I have to wait until he
brought it to the surface? And why
had he not already done that? Later
I read in TIME magazine that it was
a fact that the Sasakawa Maritime
Institute had discovered the wreck
of a ship laden with this amount of
gold. It had been carrying it during
the war between Japan and Russia,
and the horde was on a Russian
ship when the Imperial Navy of
Japan sunk it at the turn of the 20th
century.
While Mr. Sasakawa had discov
ery rights to the gold, once it was
brought to the surface Russia was
sure to sue for its return. Therefore
Mr. Sasakawa had decided to leave
it where it was until something
could be worked out with the Sovi
ets who were then in power in Rus
sia. Besides, he still had his monop
oly on all legal wagering that was
done in Japan, and that business
was generating a bonanza for him
and his foundation.
Then Mr. Sasakawa asked me
another question. “If I give you a
cashier’s check today, will you sim
ply put it into your organization’s
bank account, or will you put the
money to work immediately?”
I stated that I would put it into a
very safe account, and that some of
the world’s most respected persons
from a number of nations on our
Board of Trustees would make sure
that every penny was well spent.
The philanthropist pursued the
matter. “Do you have a staff that
knows how to make the hundred
million dollars grow into one hun
dred and twenty-five million dol
lars, even if you never use any of it
for your program?”
“No,” I had to tell him. “We do
not have anyone on our staff with
those skills.”
Then Mr. Sasakawa added: “I
have at least a hundred experts on
my staff who look after money.”
Then he taught me something I will
never forget. Money is like fertiliz
er. (I think the interpreter used a
more polite term of the actual word
Mr. Sasakawa had used, because he
laughed as he said it.)
Sasakawa continued by telling
me that “fertilizer” by itself is less
than worthless. All it does is draw
flies and smell bad. But when judi
cially spread in the correct amount
where it was needed, it can help
things grow.
He asked me how much The
Friendship Force had spent the pre
ceding year, and then suggested
that he give me that amount imme
diately. Then he suggested that I
return a year later and tell him how
much more of the one hundred mil
lion pledge I needed.
In the meantime, he would have
his investment crew increase his
stock of fertilizer.
“How much did you spend last
year, Mr. Smith?” he asked. After
asking him for a hundred million
dollars, I was embarrassed to tell
him that the previous year’s budget
had been just six hundred thousand.
He told one of his assistants to wire
transfer that amount that day to the
bank account of The Friendship
Force.
I saw this gentleman every Janu
ary for the next five years. Each
time I visited him in his Tokyo
office I reported on the progress of
The Friendship Force.
The first year we used the addi
tional six hundred thousand dollars
wisely. We were able to increase
the number of people who traveled
with us to make friends in other
nations. We were able to pay all of
our expenses and have a little left
over for program growth.
When I reported this to Mr.
Sasakawa he was delighted and
suggested that his foundation
donate another six hundred thou
sand to us. This money was used to
expand into nearly fifty nations.
As more people became
involved our budget jumped from
six hundred thousand dollars a year
to about one and one half million.
The third year that I saw Mr.
Sasakawa he gave the organization
another six hundred thousand dol
lars worth of “fertilizer.”
We grew even more. In each of
the forth and fifth years, the
Sasakawa Foundation donated an
additional six hundred thousand
dollars to us, for a total of three
million dollars.
On the sixth anniversary of our
meeting in his Tokyo office, Mr.
Sasakawa noted that not only had
we expanded our program many
fold but also that we had one and a
half million dollars in reserve! He
asked me if I really wanted any
more “fertilizer” for the ensuing
year. How could I tell him that I
did? He informed me that there
remained over ninety-five million
dollars that I could draw on if it
could be used wisely.
This put me in a quandary. By
this time Mr. Sasakawa was nearly
ninety years old. He still wore his
suit with the red silk lining, but a
little of the sparkle had gone from
his eyes.
He died at 93, and so did what
remained of the one hundred mil
lion dollar pledge. If I could have
been as wise and fast in spending
his money as he was in earning it,
who knows what The Friendship
Force would be today?
Ryochi Sasakawa. He Touched
Me. I saw in him what a wise per
son can do with money to make
good things happen.
[Editor’s Note: The Rev. Wayne
Smith, a Big Canoe resident, is the
founder of The Friendship
Force, which today boasts 350
chapters in 60 countries. Among
his notable accomplishments and
awards was being nominated for
the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992.
Locally, Smith is active in the com
munity in many facets, including
serving on the staff of the Big
Canoe Chapel.
Smith is currently working on an
autobiography which will appear
as a series in the Progress titled
They Touched Me. The previous
installments of the series are avail
able at www.pickensprogress.com]
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