Dear Mr. Jin,

Thank you very much for your letter dated 4 January 1996. Please forgive me for the late reply, as I had beenout for a business trip and was not able to read your letter until 12 January.

I have been doing fine and my business has been going fairly well recently. Since we had beautiful weather during this New Year's holidays, many visitors came to Minobu and kept us very busy. Therefore, I had not been able to enjoy Kendo yet this month. I hope that I can find some time to go to the Dojo next month.

I understand that you will be visiting Japan this month. It would be a great pleasure for me to have a reunion with you. Unfortunately, however, my business schedule will not allow me to do so. According to the old custom in Japan, I have to visit our main clients for the New Year's greetings. To my deep regret, I have appointments to visit these clients in Tokyo and Osaka during your stay here from 19 January thru 23 January.

Please let me know when you plan to visit here the next time, so that I can meet you again and guide you to some sight-seeing spots.

I sincerely hope that you will have a wonderful time during this visit and look forward to hearing from you again soon.

With best regards,