My Dad Searched for His Lost Japanese Child His Whole Life. I Found Him Thanks to MyHeritage

Ever since I was a little girl, I knew there was a missing piece in my family.

My father, John Vierra, who served in various branches of the U.S. military, was stationed in Japan in the early 1950s. As a Private First Class and Airman Third Class, he served in the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Air Force, as part of the strong military presence the U.S. maintained in the area in support of Korean War operations. Japan was still reeling from the aftermath of World War II and was under the occupation of the Allied Powers, led by the United States. It served as a critical logistical and strategic hub for the U.S. and the United Nations forces during the Korean conflict.

While in Japan, my father met a young Japanese lady and they fell in love, and were even thinking about getting married. She got pregnant, and my father, as part of his military service, had to ship out during her pregnancy. Not long after he came back to Japan, searching for her until he found her. But she had changed. Her father, and/or some other members of her family, talked her into cutting things off with him completely. Due to the stigma and societal pressures at the time, having a child with an American soldier was considered a scandal, especially with mixed-race children often facing intense discrimination. She told him she’d had a baby girl and had placed her for adoption, but in reality, she had a baby boy: my brother. Believing he had a daughter lost to the world, my father tried to search for her for years, fruitlessly.

My father returned home to the United States and eventually met and married my mother Shirley, who had a son — my brother James — from a previous marriage. I was born in 1954 in Santa Cruz. James, unfortunately, passed away in 2000.

After his service, my father worked as an engineer, mainly at Westinghouse Electric Corporation. He was very skilled at fixing everything — a true handyman.

But he never recovered from the loss he experienced before he met my mother. I saw my father cry many times throughout my life, because he couldn’t find his child. His soul never found peace in this regard.

He passed away in 2003, still heartbroken, after a long struggle with multiple sclerosis. It always weighed on me that he had never been able to heal that wound.

Sharon’s father, John, in his older years

An unexpected discovery

In 2022, a cousin of mine had her DNA tested on MyHeritage, and one day she called me with surprising news: she had found a cousin in Japan. “Charlene,” I said to her, “didn’t you know that my dad had a baby in Japan?” I thought she knew. And then came the bombshell: she said, “Well, if so, looks like we found your niece. Meaning that her father is your brother.”

At first, I was in disbelief. I said, “I don’t have a brother, I have a sister.” But the evidence seemed undeniable. Through MyHeritage DNA, Charlene had found the long-lost child of my father.

Akihiko, my brother, was born in 1952, but had been told his entire life that his American father had abandoned him. His mother never spoke about his birth father, only telling him, as an adult, that he was dead.

Despite a difficult and sad childhood, Akihiko pursued higher education and succeeded academically. He studied earth sciences, earned a Ph.D. in geophysics at a young age, and became a professor, specializing in seismology, geodesy, and tsunami studies. He often visited California for work and research — never knowing that his birth family was so close by. He retired from full time academic research at age 65.

In 2022, his daughter Naima decided to take a DNA test — without telling Akihiko — to see if she could find more information about her American grandfather. When the connection with Charlene surfaced, Charlene suggested that I take a DNA test to confirm it, and even had a DNA kit for me already. I took it, and it showed that Naima is indeed my niece. Knowing now for a fact that her father is my brother, Naima decided to share the news with Akihiko.

“I had always felt abandoned by my father ever since I was a little boy. Therefore, I was full of mixed emotions,” says Akihiko. “I can hardly express how difficult it was for a mixed-race Japanese-American child like me to live in Japan, especially in the 1950s-60s, where bullying and discrimination abounded.”

I was able to tell my brother the truth: that our father never gave up trying to find him, and that he loved him very much.

“I was absolutely and utterly surprised at what she told me,” says Akihiko. “It was a great surprise to me and hard to believe it was true, because I’ve not known about my birth father for 69 years all my life, ever since I was born.” He was utterly amazed to learn that my parents had been trying to find him for so many years. “It was so sad that they couldn’t find me when I was a kid,” he says. “It would have changed the way I always felt growing up, as being unwanted, abandoned by my father. What saddened me most of all was when I learned about my father, never knowing he had a son and dying without ever being able to meet his own son.”

But he is very happy to know that our father remembered him the whole time and wanted so much to find him — and that we finally found each other.

Filling the gaps

When we met for the first time at the airport, we ran to each other and hugged and kissed each other like we’d known each other all our lives.

The bond we built felt instant and profound. It’s almost like we grew up together — it feels that way, because we’re very close. I immediately noticed that he looks like my dad, too. It’s absolutely amazing. He calls me “my sweet little sister” and “My Sharona,” and I call him “Big Brother.” He’s loving, kind-hearted, and generous. He opens doors for me, he carries my handbag… this man takes care of me — his little sister.

Akihiko and Sharon

Since then, Akihiko has visited me in California three times — in 2023, 2024, and now again for another good, long visit. Together, we’ve filled the gaps in our shared history. We’ve gotten the whole family together to meet him. My dad’s brother ran and hugged him, and said: “It’s like hugging my brother. You look just like him.”

I’ve taken Akihiko to some of my favorite places: our father’s old haunts in Santa Cruz and the Portuguese Festival. I wanted him to know his heritage. I showed him the places he would have grown up if we had found him earlier.

The reunited siblings

“Sharon introduced me to many of my relatives living in the US, including my uncles, aunts, cousins, and great-uncles,” says Akihiko. “I also learned about my deceased grandfather and grandmother. I was amazed at how many relatives I have in the U.S. I was especially happy to learn that my grandmother’s younger brother is still alive and well, even though he is elderly. Sharon told me that our ancestors immigrated to America from the Portuguese island of Madeira.”

Akihiko and Sharon visit the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Santa Nella, California

We email each other several times a day, every day. We don’t like being apart. We are trying to catch up on lost decades apart and want to make the most out of the time we have won together. We have a special, significant relationship between us.

A family reunion

My mother, Shirley, now 93, has also welcomed Akihiko into our family with open arms. “I love her and she treats me like her own son,” says Akihiko. He treats her with great respect.

Akihiko and Sharon’s mother Shirley

It’s all so incredible, so remarkable, how we found one another after 7 decades of being apart — each one of us on the other side of the world. Thanks to MyHeritage being a global platform for family history research this was possible. You can find what you have been searching for in places you didn’t think possible, even in Japan. You can find out what you wished for after so many years, after having no clue at all, after not knowing it’s an option. You can still do a simple MyHeritage DNA test and still have this amazing breakthrough in life.

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. We make a really good team, my brother and I.

I think about my father often — how his love and search for his child spanned decades. We’ve closed an incredible circle for him, and for my brother as well. I’m just sad that it took so long, and I wish my father could be here to see us now.

Many thanks to Sharon and Akihiko for sharing their truly amazing story with us. If you’ve also made an incredible discovery with MyHeritage, we’d love to hear about it! Please send it to us via this form or email us at stories@myheritage.com.