Elizabeth Izumi, on instruction from her mum who was a Soka Gakkai member in Japan, unrelentingly welcomed President Ikeda at the Canada Airport on October 11, 1960.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very happy to hear President Ikeda say right off that he was certain my mother must be a very kind and admirable person to ask her daughter to greet a party of strangers at the airport, and he thanked her sincerely. We only spoke briefly, but I sensed his warmth and kindness, and I felt I understood why my mother was practising the Daishonin\u2019s Buddhism with the Soka Gakkai\u2026 Later, I heard that he had expressed his deep gratitude to my mother at the Soka Gakkai Headquarters. I was touched by his sincerity… About 18 months after our meeting, I started practising\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
In November 1964, Elizabeth Izumi returned to Japan and attended a local discussion meeting. A Seikyo Shimbun\u2019s reporter who was present at the meeting, knew of Elizabeth\u2019s encounter with President Ikeda at Toronto\u2019s airport, immediately approached to interview her. Several days later, a small article about Mrs Izumi appeared in the Seikyo Shimbun.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo my surprise, President Ikeda, who had read the article, invited me and my mother to the Soka Gakkai Headquarters. As we were waiting in the lobby, he appeared. Just seeing him approaching, I was overwhelmed with emotion. He bowed deeply to us and thanked us sincerely. Addressing my daughter, whom I had brought with us, he said, \u201cYour mother was pregnant with you when I met her, wasn\u2019t she? You\u2019re so big now! You\u2019re very cute.\u201d I felt gratitude rising up within my heart, and in the depths of my being I made a determination to work for kosen-rufu alongside President Ikeda for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will never forget them\u201d \u2014 that in itself is a wonderful encouragement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Addressing my daughter, whom I had brought with us, he said, \u201cYour mother was pregnant with you when I met her, wasn\u2019t she? You\u2019re so big now! You\u2019re very cute.\u201d
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