Woman Spends 71 Years Thinking She's an Only Child, Then She Gets an Email

Newsweek

12 hours ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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For 71 years, Sharon L., a retired nurse, believed she was an only child. Then, one day, she received an email that changed her life forever.
The sender? Akihiko N., 73, a retired Japanese professor—and Sharon's brother.
Both siblings had lived decades pondering their father's mysterious past, and now, the questions were answered. Sharon and Akihiko spoke to Newsweek about finding each other after so many years, and how they feel about completing a puzzle they thought they'd never solve.
Sharon knew her father, John, who died in 2003, had always grieved a child he thought was put up for adoption in postwar Japan. Akihiko, on the other hand, spent his life feeling abandoned by his American father. Then, in 2022, a MyHeritage DNA test taken by his daughter in Tokyo connected them to a cousin in California, and everything changed.
The journey to reunion began with a message from Sharon's cousin, Charlene, who had received notification of family in Japan. "She said that something very strange has happened," Sharon said. "'We've got some cousins in Japan.'"
It turned out that Akihiko's daughter, Naima, was the one who took the MyHeritage DNA test, connecting with Charlene. Then, a DNA kit of Sharon's confirmed that Naima was indeed her niece.
For Akihiko, the news was completely unexpected.
"My elder daughter, Naima, had been researching our family history and looking for her ancestors, without my knowledge," he said. "It was a great surprise to me and hard to believe it was true, because I've not known about my birth father for about seven decades...But at the same time, I was deeply devastated because I learned my father is no longer with me."
Akihiko sent an email to Sharon about the discovery, and their consequent reunion left the siblings reeling in unexpected joy and grief, all at once.
(L) Akihiko and Sharon's father, John. (R) Akihiko and Sharon.
(L) Akihiko and Sharon's father, John. (R) Akihiko and Sharon.
Akihiko and Sharon/MyHeritage
A Story of Misconceptions
Their reunion brought to light decades of misunderstanding.
Sharon said she had always known her father was deeply saddened by the child he couldn't find. Her father, a U.S. serviceman in Japan in the early 1950s, had fallen in love. While she was pregnant, he was shipped home to the United States.
Later, he returned to Japan to find the woman, only to be told by her family that he had a daughter who had been given up for adoption.
"Believing he had a daughter lost to the world, my father tried to search for her for years, fruitlessly," Sharon said. "I saw my father cry over that many times throughout my life, because he couldn't find his child."
Akihiko's childhood was also marked by a false narrative.
"My birth mother never talked about my biological father. She only told me he was an American and died later on," he said. He described the pain of growing up as a mixed-race child in postwar Japan, often bullied and called "gaijin," a derogatory term for foreigner.
"I had always felt abandoned by my father ever since I was a little boy," he said.
"He was in shock to hear the truth from me," Sharon added. "That my father searched for him, dreamed of finding him."
Extraordinarily, their paths could have crossed several times throughout Akihiko's career as an academic.
"I visited California many times for work from the 1980s to the 1990s," he said, noting he was likely "less than several hundreds of miles physically apart" from his father at times. "I could have met him if I had known him earlier. I had so many chances to meet my birth father in person there, and it's a real shame that I didn't get to do so."
An Instant, Joyful Connection
Despite the lost decades, the siblings' connection was immediate.
"When we met at the airport, we ran to each other and just hugged each other and kissed each other like we'd known each other all our lives. It was an instant connection," Sharon said. She quickly noticed her brother's striking resemblance to their father.
Akihiko has since embraced his new family, including his father's wife, who he said treats him like her own son.
The siblings now email every day, making up for lost time. Akihiko has visited Sharon in California twice, staying for three months each time.
"We've gotten the whole family together...My dad's brother—he ran out to [Akihiko] and hugged him, and he said, 'It's like hugging my brother. You look just like him,'" Sharon said. "I'm closing an incredible circle for my father, our father, and for my brother as well...
"I mean, being able to prove to him that what he thought was all wrong—that his father did want him. He wanted him and thought about him until his last days. I just wish my father could be here."
Their story highlights the enduring impact of family secrets, as well as the power of technology to reconnect lost relationships.
"You can find what you have been searching for in places you didn't think possible," Sharon said. "Every day there is so much bad news from around the world. And here we are giving hope, spreading good news to the world. I see our reunion as a miracle."
The two long-lost siblings, separated by seven decades and an ocean, found each other—and they aren't letting go.
"He calls me 'My Sharona,'" Sharon said. "I call him 'Big Brother.'"