Woman to receive doll sent by Kennedy in return for gift 50 yrs ago

The doll of a character from the American Girl series and a letter from the U.S. ambassador were presented to the media at the U.S. Consulate General in Sapporo, Hokkaido, on Tuesday before being dispatched to Tsuyako Matsumoto prior to Japan's Girls' Day on Thursday.
Matsumoto, who now resides in a nursing home in Kitami in the northernmost main island, sent the hina dolls to the ambassador's father, President John F. Kennedy, at the White House in 1962.
She was inspired to give the gift after writing to President Kennedy one day and receiving a reply expressing gratitude from a presidential secretary. At the time, she was running a grocery store in Kitami and bought the set of dolls with money she earned from knitting and other side jobs.
The ambassador used to play with the Japanese dolls when she was a child and has since kept the set. The dolls, typically on display in Japanese homes for the March 3 Girls' Day festival, are now on display at the envoy's residence in Tokyo.
"Your gift brought joy to me and to the people of America," Kennedy wrote in the letter. "I hope this gift of an American Girl Doll continues in that spirit, to promote international friendship as well as to celebrate girls and women everywhere."
The ambassador selected the 45-centimeter-tall doll in a flower-printed green dress.
"Her name is Kit Kitteredge, and she celebrates American culture in the year 1934, when you were a girl here in Japan. Like you, she is a creative spirit with big ideas," Kennedy wrote.
The ambassador refrained from giving the gift in person in consideration of Matsumoto's health.