An Experience That Forced Me to Believe in Reincarnation

[1] Last Sunday, I had a strange experience, something happened that I just can’t help but believe. I’d heard similar stories before on a TV show (Unbelievable), so I was half-believing it already, but when it happens to you, you really have no choice but to believe it, you know?

Unbelievable: A popular Japanese TV program featuring paranormal phenomena, moving stories, etc.

[2] Okay, I’ll write about it. It’s about my son, and I’m just writing this down to kill some time. If you know of any similar literature or stories, please let me know. I’d also appreciate any advice on how to handle this. This isn’t meant to be a horror story or a tear-jerker, I’m just going to plainly write down what happened.

[3] We live in a rural part of Kyushu – my wife, our 3-year-old son, and me. I think we’re a pretty normal family. Recently, my son started learning words and we can communicate, so we’ve been talking a lot, and that’s when I started feeling something was off.

[4] We occasionally go on family trips, but he’s quite knowledgeable about prefectures that not only our family but even I have never been to. Saying things like, ‘The bread in XX town is delicious!’ or ‘I used to go buy snacks at a store called XX often.’ At first, I didn’t think much of it, figuring he’d heard it on TV or something, but one particular comment piqued my interest.

[5] He started saying, ‘I want to see Michiyo.’ When I asked, ‘Who’s that?’ he replied, ‘She’s my wife.’ There’s no girl named ‘Michiyo-chan’ in his kindergarten class. When I asked, ‘Where does she live?’ he said, ‘Yamaguchi Prefecture.’ Wow, Yamaguchi Prefecture, that’s specific… It’s far, but I thought if we had time, maybe I’d take him. So, finally, last Sunday, we set out.

[13] Even I have never been to Yamaguchi Prefecture, so my son definitely hasn’t. My wife doesn’t have a driver’s license either. When we were about to leave on Sunday, he asked, ‘What time will we arrive?’ I told him, ‘We’ll get there before noon.’ But he said not that time, ‘4 PM would be better.’ When I asked, ‘Why?’ he said, ‘Because I can’t meet her at that time.’

[14] We headed out, making it a family trip as well, enjoying a drive after a long time, all to meet this ‘Michiyo’ person. Despite looking forward to it so much, he barely said a word on the way to Yamaguchi. Once we arrived, my son suddenly started giving directions. ‘Turn right at that convenience store, go straight through the traffic light…’ something like that. He looked the same as always, but how should I put it… his way of speaking seemed mature, like an adult… My wife looked a little surprised too.

[15] I think we arrived around 3:30 PM. We reached a quiet residential area, a bit away from the main downtown. My son unhesitatingly led us to a Japanese-style house. He rang the doorbell, and a woman, still young? Maybe in her 30s, came out. Naturally, while saying ‘Yes?’, she looked at us with a ‘Who might you be?’ expression. Then my son ran up and suddenly hugged her, shouting, ‘I’m home! Michiyo!’ Yeah, my wife had a complicated look on her face (lol). As I was wondering if I should explain the situation, the woman started talking with my son, and then she began to cry.

Japanese-style house: A house incorporating traditional Japanese architectural styles.

[16] The woman had lost her husband in an accident four years ago and was living alone in the large house. If her husband’s name was Kouta (a pseudonym), my son’s name is Koutarou – I was a bit surprised that the names sounded so similar. The woman didn’t believe it at first either, but as my son started talking about things that only her husband should have known, one after another, she seemed to accept it. We suggested, ‘Maybe we should leave you two alone for an hour?’ and stepped outside, so I don’t know what they talked about during that time.

[17] When we went back to get him, my wife asked me with a serious face, ‘What if he says he doesn’t want to go home?’ I promised her we’d bring him back, but I felt a bit conflicted. When we arrived, contrary to our expectations, my son said goodbye quite readily. The woman also thanked us, saying, ‘We parted so suddenly four years ago, so I was able to say and ask all the things I wanted to finally. I feel closure now.’ And so we headed home. However, since we got back, my son hasn’t mentioned anything about it at all. I haven’t asked him anything either, but I’ve heard that young children sometimes have memories of past lives, so I think I’ll ask him when I get home today. You hear stories like this often overseas, but it happens in Japan too, huh.

[18] This happened on Sunday

[19] Since this happened on Sunday, I wanted to ask if anyone has heard similar stories.

• [21] I feel like I’ve heard various similar stories. Like the pattern where memories disappear after visiting a place from a past life, or I think there was a story from India or somewhere about someone marrying the same husband from their previous life as an adult.
• [22] In Japan too, I recall there was a topic on some old forum about someone who remembered dying in an accident in their early twenties, and it got compiled somewhere.
• [26] A human being reincarnating as a human again might be astronomically improbable, but it’s not impossible. Even if you’re reborn on Earth, the timeline might be different, you could be a microorganism in prehistoric times, or a mosquito on the savanna.
• [27] In the world of the dead, space-time is meaningless. This means you cannot choose when or in which era you are reborn. It could be thousands, tens of thousands of years later, or even hundreds of millions of years ago. Therefore, you, reading my post right now, in this era, on this planet, at this time, are witnessing an incredible miracle. It’s far more miraculous than reincarnation itself, don’t you think?