Hikari Ishida "I realized that it's okay not to forcefully separate from your parents and children" on "Tetsuko's Room"

Actor Hikari Ishida appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) broadcast on June 18th. She talked about her experience when her eldest daughter (22 years old) studied abroad last year and about letting go of her children.

Last year, her eldest daughter studied abroad in Canada for a year, and her second daughter (20 years old) moved to a university dormitory, both leaving home at the same time. Currently, the family of four is living together again. Regarding the year without her daughters, Ishida said, "I'd always seen them once a day, so I knew how they were feeling and how they were feeling, but at first I was very anxious and lonely because I had no idea what they were like. I couldn't get used to this new lifestyle."

She hung out her daughters' futons to make it look as if they were still living there, and when she went out, she would look into the empty room and say, "I'm off now!" "You gradually get used to that kind of lifestyle, and I realized that it's okay not to force yourself to separate from your children," she said.

Ishida-san says that he almost forced his eldest daughter to study abroad. "She didn't really want to go, but it's difficult to leave Japan for a long period of time once you get a job, so I sent her off by taking a year off from university," he said.

When they departed, both Ishida and her eldest daughter were in tears.

"I waved until the plane was out of sight. There's an app that tells you where the plane is flying, and I kept looking at it, then I started crying again... I still remember that day."

Having overcome various difficulties, her daughter returned home stronger and said she wanted to study abroad again. Ishida smiled and said, "I'm really glad I let her go."