Once there were two beautiful lands and two proud peoples separated by great distance and many differences. This is the story of how a wonderful friendship has blossomed between them... So begins the story of a most unlikely friendship. In 1959 the prefecture of Yamanashi, Japan, was devastated by two typhoons. Richard Thomas, an Iowan who had served in the U.S. military in Japan after World War II, helped organize an "Iowa Hog Lift" that sent 35...