SEARCH FOR LOST DAD
Keigo's quest inspires others
- Published: 21/05/2009 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: News
Keigo Zato's quest to find his Japanese father has inspired Thai-Japanese teenager Narumi Hamada to pursue her dream of reuniting with the father she lost touch with 15 years ago.
Ms Hamada, 18, said she was deeply moved by the story of the determined nine-year-old boy from Phichit whose dream to contact his long-lost Japanese father has come true after a long search.
Keigo's story has given her hope of a reunion with her biological father.
Born with hearing loss in the left ear, Ms Hamada, nicknamed Yui, is a second-year pottery student at the Chiang Mai Vocational College.
All she wants at the moment is to know whether her Japanese father is still alive and meet him again.
The teenager's mother Sangwan Bamrung, 45, said she met Ryoichi Hamada, a driver at Toyota Motor Thailand, about 20 years ago at Lamphun industrial estate where she worked for a computer spare parts company.
She travelled to Japan where she stayed with Mr Hamada for four years.
Feeling homesick, Mrs Sangwan, who was expecting a baby at the time, decided to return to Chiang Mai and gave birth to her daughter Narumi.
She said her husband visited her a couple of times in Thailand but then had little contact with them.
