Single mother hires actor to pose as her daughter's father for 10 years

I wanted him to say how sorry he was that he couldn’t be in Megumi’s life until then.

(Web Desk) - In an effort to spare her young daughter from being ostracized by other children for not having a father, a Japanese single mother made the controversial decision to hire an actor who has been posing as the girl’s father for the last 10 years.

Megumi was only a baby when her parents separated and he father disappeared from her life. The mother, Asako, remembers that the girl started asking where her father was very early, but that her father’s absence didn’t seem like a big deal until she was about 10-years-old.

That’s when Asako noticed a change in her daughter’s behavior; she stopped talking to her, became withdrawn, and eventually stopped going to school. Her mother soon learned that she wasn’t just blaming herself for her father’s absence, but she had also become a victim of bullying at school, as it often happens with children of single parents in Japan.
Asako had heard about people rental agencies that could send actors to play fake relatives, wedding guests and even romantic partners, for a fee, so she started flirting with the idea of renting someone to pose as Megumi’s estranged father

“My requests were very simple,” Asako told. “Firstly, I wanted him to say how sorry he was that he couldn’t be in Megumi’s life until then. Secondly, I wanted him to listen to whatever she wanted to tell him.”

Asako then told her daughter that her father had remarried and now had another family, but that he had recently contacted her because he wanted to meet Megumi. At first, the girl was shocked, but eventually, she agreed to meet him..

The actor started seeing Asako and her daughter two times a month. He joined them on outings, trips to the cinema and birthday parties, and the mother recalls that it didn’t take long for Megumi’s behaviour to improve considerably. She was happier, more outgoing and talkative, and she even decided to go back to school. That’s when Asako knew that her deception had been worth it.

“Gradually she became happier and more confident,” Takashi confirms. “I used to meet her with Asako, the three of us together, but one day she said, ‘I want to go out with my father, just the two of us,’ so I took her out and she held my hand for the first time.”

Hiring Takashi every month requires Asako to manage her finances carefully. Every time she requires his services, she has to pay around 10,000 Yen ($90), so she has to cut costs elsewhere in order to afford it. But remembering how unhappy her daughter was before her “father” came back into her life, she believes it’s money well spent.