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Toko Yomura, Board Member

Drawn to Friendship Force 30 years ago by an advertisement in a Tokyo newspaper, Toko Yomura began work immediately to help organize a simultaneous exchange between Montana and Japan involving 240 people and a chartered airplane. This awesome experience was the fuel that fired Toko’s curiosity about intercultural exchange and led to the development of The Friendship Force of Tokyo two years later. The Tokyo club is now one of the largest Friendship Force clubs in the world boasting 260 members and conducting at least 6 exchanges annually.

In 1989 Toko’s husband Masami became President & CEO of Zeon Chemicals, USA, and moved the family to Louisville in the USA where Toko taught Japanese Culture and Language at Indiana University. There she organized tasting events of Japanese cuisine and later incorporated those recipes into a cookbook, When The Family Gathers, which was published and promoted by Friendship Force. Toko also helped organize The Friendship Force of Louisville during her four-year stay in the US.

Upon her return to Japan Toko counseled foreign students at the Tokyo Insitute of Technology, helping them adjust to their new environment and handle culture shock. She became well-known as “Japanese Mom, Toko.” Toko has children of her own, a son in Tokyo and two daughters in the USA, as well as 7 beautiful grandchildren.

She has attended 17 International Friendship Force Conferences and held most of the highest leadership positions in The Friendship Force of Tokyo. In addition to extensive international travel with Friendship Force, Toko is a professional musician, playing the Koto and Shamisen, traditional Japanese instruments.

Toko’s dream is to go back to university with her husband in order to study English in the US.

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