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He searched for his Japanese birth mother. He found her -- and the restaurant she had named after him
He searched for his Japanese birth mother. He found her and the restaurant she had named after him.
By Kathryn Tolbert May 8 at 8:00 AM
Bruce Hollywood with his mother, Nobue Ouchi. (Courtesy of Bruce Hollywood)
It began with a heart attack in the Pentagon parking lot in pre-dawn darkness. Air Force Col. Bruce Hollywood was on his way to work and found himself on the ground, thinking: This is where it ends.
Later, as he lay in the ambulance racing to Walter Reed Army Hospital, two regrets popped into his head. One was that he wouldnt be able to help his son with his college applications. The other was that he never thanked the Japanese woman who gave birth to him, then gave him up for adoption in 1960.
Hollywood was adopted by an American couple who were stationed in Japan with the U.S. military and who could offer him a good life in America.
It took that heart attack in 2005 for Hollywood to set out to find his birth mother, something his adoptive mother, who had passed away, had repeatedly encouraged him to do. Before that, he said, he never felt something was missing. His adoption was not something he had reflected on much.
...
By Kathryn Tolbert May 8 at 8:00 AM
Bruce Hollywood with his mother, Nobue Ouchi. (Courtesy of Bruce Hollywood)
It began with a heart attack in the Pentagon parking lot in pre-dawn darkness. Air Force Col. Bruce Hollywood was on his way to work and found himself on the ground, thinking: This is where it ends.
Later, as he lay in the ambulance racing to Walter Reed Army Hospital, two regrets popped into his head. One was that he wouldnt be able to help his son with his college applications. The other was that he never thanked the Japanese woman who gave birth to him, then gave him up for adoption in 1960.
Hollywood was adopted by an American couple who were stationed in Japan with the U.S. military and who could offer him a good life in America.
It took that heart attack in 2005 for Hollywood to set out to find his birth mother, something his adoptive mother, who had passed away, had repeatedly encouraged him to do. Before that, he said, he never felt something was missing. His adoption was not something he had reflected on much.
...
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He searched for his Japanese birth mother. He found her -- and the restaurant she had named after him (Original Post)
sl8
May 2018
OP
whathehell
(29,067 posts)1. Beautiful story and picture..
Thanks for posting.
Shanti Mama
(1,288 posts)2. Thank you!
I'm an adoptive mother of an Asian child who knows her birth family. And she loves all things Japanese. This filled me heart. I sent it to her.
StevieM
(10,500 posts)3. It is sad that racism within society made a loving mother feel she had no choice but
to allow her mixed-race baby to be adopted.
She obviously loved him very much and would have liked to keep him.
GeoWilliam750
(2,522 posts)4. Wonderful story
I wonder if he also found his birth father. That would also be a good story.