21-Year-Old Japanese Man Reunites with Father in India After 20 Years: A Real-Life Story

7:30 PM, 19 August

It’s evening, the sun has just set, and darkness is setting in. An Air India flight landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. A 21-year-old Japanese boy stepped off the flight, with an image of India formed only from what he had seen on Google. He had never visited India before, nor was he interested in exploring it this time. The Taj Mahal, Golden Temple, Jaipur, or Kerala held no appeal for him. The boy headed straight to Fatehgarh Churian Road in Amritsar, where he found a hotel and decided to stay. The next morning, he set out to find the person he had come all the way from Japan to meet. He searched through houses and paan shops in the village of Fatehgarh, armed with only a photo of the person he was looking for. After wandering around the village, he finally stopped at a paan shop to drink some water. As he was leaving, he asked the shopkeeper, ‘Do you know this person?’ The ears, accustomed to hearing refusals since yesterday, received an affirmative answer this time. The paan shopkeeper said, ‘Yes, I know this man.’

A sudden spark of joy appeared on the boy’s face, and he jumped up in excitement. The road to the house of the person he had come all the way from Japan to find was finally within reach. The person ‘Rin’ had traveled from Japan to Amritsar to find was not an enemy or a friend but his own father, Sukhpal Pannu. Rin, now 21 years old, had not met his father for 20 years. With no phone number or address, armed with only a photo, Rin had come to Amritsar to find his father, whom he had been separated from for 20 years. If his father lived in Amritsar and was Punjabi, how did the boy end up in Japan? How had they lost contact for 20 years? And how had Rin suddenly tracked his father down to a village in Amritsar after 20 years? To get answers to all these questions, ‘Divya Bhaskar’ app sat down with father-son duo Sukhpal and Rin. This story, which rivals even the most cinematic of plots, is truly stranger than fiction. The whole story begins in…

2002

Bangkok Airport

43-year-old Sukhpal Singh flipped through the pages of his past life and recalled an incident from 22 years ago. Back then, Sukhpal was around 20 years old and was returning to India after completing college in Thailand. That’s when the whole story began. Sukhpal Singh started, ‘My college had just finished, and I was waiting for a flight to Delhi at Bangkok Airport. At the Indian stand, I met a Japanese girl, Sachi… Sachi Takahata. We struck up a conversation, and I learned that she was coming to India to see the Taj Mahal and explore the country. We even had seats next to each other on the flight, so I told her a lot about Amritsar, saying, “There’s a lot to see in Amritsar too. You can visit the Wagah Border, Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh, and many other places.” Back then, mobile phones and the internet weren’t that prevalent, so she started flipping through her Indian travel book and looked at the pages on Amritsar. By the time the flight landed in Delhi, she had agreed with me and came straight to my house in Amritsar from Delhi Airport.’

‘She Went Back to Japan, But We Didn’t Separate’

‘Sachi stayed at my home in Amritsar with my family for 12 days. During that time, we visited the Wagah Border, Golden Temple, and other places, and then we also traveled to Jaipur and Udaipur. We didn’t even realize when we fell in love with each other. After the tour, she returned to Japan, but within a month, she sponsored my visa. I got the visa and went to Japan, and within a few days, we got married. We were both happy, and in 2003, “Rin” (the Japanese boy who’s here now) was born. We were living together, but within a year, we started having problems, and arguments began. We felt we couldn’t stay together, so I returned to India.’

‘I Had No Choice But to Separate from My Son’

‘In 2004, my wife Sachi came back to India with our son Rin. We both felt we could still live together, so we returned to Japan. But shortly after, Sachi made a final decision that we couldn’t live together anymore. She told me, “You can stay here in Japan as long as your visa is valid, but we won’t live together.” That was in 2005 when I last met Rin. After that, my visa expired in 2006, and I returned to India. All I had left were 2-4 photos of Rin and the need to leave Japan for Amritsar.’

A Call from Japan: “Don’t Bother Us Like This”

Did you try to meet Rin again? Sukhpal says, ‘Sachi and I had divorced, and the rules in Japan are so strict that without her permission, I couldn’t even meet my own son. My visa had expired, so I couldn’t go back to Japan, and I didn’t have any other sponsor. In 2005, there wasn’t much social media or internet, so I tried to connect through their home’s landline, but no one answered. I had their home address, so I even sent a birthday card for Rin’s birthday the following year. When the card arrived, Sachi called me and clearly said, “You don’t need to contact anyone here anymore. We’re divorced now, so don’t bother us like this.”‘

‘We Both Started Our Lives Separately’

So, after coming back to Amritsar, did you remarry? Sukhpal says, ‘In 2007, my father’s health worsened, and later he passed away. After that, I remarried in 2009. But I had no idea whether Sachi remarried in Japan or not. When Rin came here, he told me everything. He said, “Mom never remarried after divorcing you; she and I still live alone.” Here, I have a 15-year-old daughter with my second wife.’

When you got married in Amritsar, did you tell your wife that you had a previous marriage and a son? Sukhpal explains honestly, ‘At the time of marriage, I only mentioned that I had been married in Japan and was now divorced, but I didn’t mention my son. A year after our marriage, I was a bit sad because I had a son in Japan, and I had gotten married here. Due to some stress every day, my wife sat me down and asked me everything in detail, so I told her, “I told you about my marriage in Japan, but I also have a son there.” You won’t believe it, but my wife didn’t say a word or get upset! She lovingly explained to me, “What’s wrong with that? He’s over there, and you don’t have any relationship with him. If your son ever comes here or if you go there and meet him, I have no problem with that.”‘

After this conversation, everything was going well. Sukhpal’s family in Amritsar and Sachi and Rin in Japan were living their lives peacefully. Then, there was a twist in the story.

August 15, 2024

A Project at College That Changed Everything

Rin was given a project in her college, where all students were tasked with creating their own “family tree.” This marked the beginning of Rin’s entire journey. What happened next will be narrated by Rin herself. Communicating with Rin wasn’t easy for us. Rin only knew Japanese and had limited English skills. So, Sukpal acted as a mediator. We would ask Sukpal, who would relay it to Rin in Japanese, Rin would respond to her father, and Sukpal would relay it back to us…

“How Will I Find My Father in India? Please Give Me a Clue”

Rin began, “When we got the project in college, everyone started working on their family trees. I gathered all the information I needed about my mother’s side of the family, but what about my father’s side? I talked to my mother, and she told me the whole story. I became determined to find my father, no matter what it took. I was ready to go to India for this. But how would I search once I got there? So, I asked my mother how I should go about it. My mother gave me my father’s old address and a photo of us from when I was little. That was all I needed. I immediately set out for India…”

Scouring the Entire Village with a Photo in Hand

“I reached Delhi from Tokyo on the evening of the 18th and headed straight to Fatehgarh-Churian Road from the airport. When I arrived at the address, there was no house there because it was from 20 years ago. There was nothing there now. So, I spent the entire day searching every house and shop in the village. In the evening, exhausted, I stood by a paan stall. The paan seller recognized my father. After hearing ‘no’ from everyone since morning, I was overjoyed when he said, ‘I don’t know this guy, but I know the person with him, and he lives here.’ I was so happy that I forgot I was hungry and thirsty. I grabbed his hand and ran after him wherever he took me.”

“A Japanese Boy Claims to Be Your Son, Come Here”

A friend of Sukpal called him and said, “A Japanese boy is here named Rin. He has a photo with you and claims to be your son. Do you know any such boy?” Recalling that moment, Sukpal said, “At first, I thought my friend was joking with me, but when I spoke to him on the phone, I was speechless. My hair stood on end as I realized that my son had come all the way from Japan searching for me after 20 years! I couldn’t contain myself for a minute and rushed to my old house… because after 20 years, I had heard my son’s voice, and now I was desperate to see him.”

Everything Seemed Blurry, with Focus Only on “Rin”

When Sukpal met Rin, how did it feel? Recalling the moment, Sukpal said, “My friend sent me Rin’s photo. After seeing the photo, I was convinced that this was indeed my son because his face was exactly the same as when I was young. His face even matched my daughter’s. So, I ran straight home. Then, Rin came and hugged me tightly… We both cried so much that I can’t even describe it. My mind was blank, and I couldn’t see anything in the world around us except Rin and me. I had wandered through so many places like the Golden Temple and Gurudwaras, praying everywhere that I could meet my son. That day, my prayers were answered, and Rin was in front of me.” Talking about seeing his father for the first time, Rin said, “I couldn’t believe that my dream of meeting my father for the first time had come true. It’s difficult for me to express how happy I was at that moment.”

Rin’s Mother Says, “I Have No Objection If Rin Stays in India”

What was your wife’s reaction when she met Rin? What did she say? Sukpal happily shared, “My wife and daughter were with me when we met. After we met, Rin immediately called Sachie (his mother) and told her that he had found his father. I also spoke to Sachie and told her, ‘Don’t worry about Rin; he is safe and with me.’ Sachie even told me, ‘If Rin wants to stay there, I have no problem. Rin is grown up now and can make decisions about his own life.’ My wife was just as happy when she saw Rin. For the last 10-12 days, Rin has been staying with us, and he has blended into our family as if he has always been part of it.”

What Will Rin Do Now?

What are the future plans? Is Rin going to stay here or go back to Japan? Sukpal said, “We just discussed this today. For now, Rin will return to Japan on September 2 because his college is starting. He will come back here next year during his vacation after he finishes his degree, and we’ll decide what to do then. Until then, we’ll stay connected by phone. If Rin plans to stay in Japan in the future and sponsors us, we are willing to move there too.