20 years on, Japanese son reunites with Punjabi father in Amritsar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 25

It was an emotional reunion for Japanese son Rin Takahata and his biological Punjabi father Sukhpal Singh who met after 20 years in Amritsar.

Rin (21) was just one-year-old, when Sukhpal got separated from his mother Sachiye Takahata. There was never any communication after their separation.

A student at Osaka University of Arts in Japan, Rin, in a broken English, told that during a project of his curriculum about making a ‘family tree’, he was able to mention the names of his family members whom he knew, except his father Sukhpal.

“This prompted me to find out his whereabouts. I had old family pictures and an address in Amritsar where my mother went during the initial years of her association with my father”, Rin said.

He searched for the location on Google Map and reached the destination on August 15, but Sukhpal had shifted out from there.

“Since I had old pictures of my father, I tried to locate him by asking the local people. To my luck, a person recognised my father and arranged his new address for me. That’s how I was able to reunite with him after over 19 years”, Rin added.

He brought with him old family photographs of her mother and father Sukhpal carrying him when he was just one-year-old in Japan.

It was on August 19, incidentally on ‘Raksha Bandhan’, when Rin met his father and half-sister Avleen Kaur.

Sukhpal said that it was a pleasant surprise when a past chapter of his life unfolded before him.

“I could have never expected it to happen, but it did. I am happy that my present wife, Gurvinderjit Kaur, and my only daughter, Avleen, too welcomed Rin in the family whole-heartedly”, he said.

Sukhpal said that he spoke to Sachiye on phone and intimated about the well-being of Rin.

“When I told him about ‘Rakhsha Bandhan’, he googled it and was thrilled to find its significance. Rin and Avleen both share a strong brother-sister bond now,” he said.

Though Rin was scheduled to return tomorrow, he got his stay extended for a few more days.

Sukhpal took him to visit the Golden Temple to seek blessings. Together, they also watched the Beating Retreat ceremony at the Attari border.

Narrating his past, Sukhpal said that he came across Sachiye accidentally at Thailand airport in early 2,000 when he was coming back to India.

“Our seats in the plane were next to each other. That’s how we had our first conversation. She was heading to New Delhi and Agra to visit the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal, respectively. I asked Sachiye to extend her tour to Amritsar after telling her about the Golden Temple. She immediately said yes and we came to Amritsar. She stayed with my family for over a fortnight. We visited the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal, besides the local tourist places, during her stay here”, he said.

Sukhpal added that they remained in touch even when she returned to Japan.

“I was just 19-20 years then. Sachiye sponsored my visit to Japan where I married her in 2002. A year later, Rin was born. I learnt Japanese and worked there as a chef, but we could not get along well. So, I returned to India. She came to see me with Rin and took me along to Japan once again, but we could not get along. We consented to mutual divorce in 2004. I stayed in Japan for three years after that but never met them. In 2007, I returned to India and remarried. Since then I have been living here. Now, we and Rin will be in touch”, he added.