(Letterhead)                                                               

                                                                             December 14, 1996

Mr Franz Ost, Director
Steel Research Laboratory
Thyssen Gmbh
Postfach 2793, Immerman Str. 20
5000 Stuttgart
Germany

Dear Mr Ost,
    I had the pleasure of attending your presentation at the 10th JapanÑ Germany Seminar in Dusseldorf in 1992. I was particularly interested in your research into internal crack formation during continuous casting.
     Since that conference, my colleagues and I at Kobe Steel have developed techniques to obtain uniform solidification in the mold and adequate secondary cooling conditions during continuous casting. Such techniques have greatly reduced surface crack formation.
     In May I will attend the International Conference on Continuous Casting in Brussels. After the conference, I will be in Germany and would like to pay you a visit in order to discuss recent developments. In addition, I would like to tour your continuous casting facilities if that is possible.
     I will be in Stuttgart during the third week of May. If you have any time available in that week, please let me know as soon as possible so that I can arrange a visit. 

     Thank you very much. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

                                                           Yours sincerely,
                                                           (Signature)
                                                          Jiro Yamashita