Comedy Star Opens Up About Being Taken from Her Parents | Atsuko Okatsuka
David Begnaud
183,509 views
Atsuko Okatsuka was five when her grandmother took her on a walk and never brought her back. Her father had full custody — unusual in Japan, granted because her mother's psychosis had turned violent — and her grandmother had already flown in from Taiwan, talked a stranger into co-signing a lease, and rented an apartment a five-minute walk from his door. She enrolled Atsuko in the school across the street. Her father knew where they were. He would come stand at the gate and watch her play, then go back to work. He never called the police. Years later he told her why: he was already raising two teenagers alone, working around the clock, and he knew he needed the help.
Three years after that they were in Los Angeles, undocumented, living in an uncle's garage. What preceded it was a night in Chiba when Atsuko slid open a paper door and saw her mother holding a kitchen knife to her own arm. Her grandmother's response was to take Atsuko out to the bicycle and ride around the city until two in the morning. In this conversation with David Begnaud, she talks about a game she invented called Ward Off the Demons, in which she waved a toy wand around the room to try to clear it. About the thrifted guitar a former gang member at her Taiwanese church bought her unasked, which she named Happiness. About making a living off strangers laughing and never once getting her mother to. About taking all forty of her mother's daily calls, from a woman who has never come to a show, a graduation, or her wedding. And about her grandmother, 92, now in the hospital, planning to return to Taiwan for good — the person who believed in her, and, as Atsuko learned from a journalist decades later, the person who kidnapped her.
Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com
Chapters ☀️
00:00:00 Intro: The Grandmother Who Kidnapped Her Twice
00:04:47 The Speed Dating Marriage: When Grandma Arranged Everything
00:07:22 Born in Taiwan, Delivered by an Untrained Doctor
00:17:06 The First Kidnapping
00:38:46 The Kitchen Knife Incident
00:41:37 Coming to America: Living Undocumented in Uncle Paul's Garage
00:45:57 Uncle JT and the Guitar Named "Happiness"
01:00:33 Warding Off the Demons: Comedy as Childhood Survival
00:59:00 Parasailing in Bali: When Dad Tried to Make Up for Lost Time
01:06:36 The Moana Metaphor: Searching for Mom's True Heart
01:08:52 My Kidnapper Is My Best Friend: The Complex Truth
01:12:02 Grandma Goes Back to Taiwan: The Final Separation
ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Atsuko Okatsuka
Executive Producer: David Begnaud, Olivier Delfosse, Justin McGoldrick
Booker: Sully Bloch
Director of Photography: Foster Parks
Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)
Social: Maxim Trofimenko, Kylee Anderson, Gracie Pekrul
Theme Music: Slipstream
Post-Production: Longwave Digital & David & Luana Co.
CONNECT WITH US:
The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: Instagram: believedpodcast
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Comedy Star Opens Up About Being Taken from Her Parents | Atsuko Okatsuka
David Begnaud
183,509 views
Atsuko Okatsuka was five when her grandmother took her on a walk and never brought her back. Her father had full custody — unusual in Japan, granted because her mother's psychosis had turned violent — and her grandmother had already flown in from Taiwan, talked a stranger into co-signing a lease, and rented an apartment a five-minute walk from his door. She enrolled Atsuko in the school across the street. Her father knew where they were. He would come stand at the gate and watch her play, then go back to work. He never called the police. Years later he told her why: he was already raising two teenagers alone, working around the clock, and he knew he needed the help.
Three years after that they were in Los Angeles, undocumented, living in an uncle's garage. What preceded it was a night in Chiba when Atsuko slid open a paper door and saw her mother holding a kitchen knife to her own arm. Her grandmother's response was to take Atsuko out to the bicycle and ride around the city until two in the morning. In this conversation with David Begnaud, she talks about a game she invented called Ward Off the Demons, in which she waved a toy wand around the room to try to clear it. About the thrifted guitar a former gang member at her Taiwanese church bought her unasked, which she named Happiness. About making a living off strangers laughing and never once getting her mother to. About taking all forty of her mother's daily calls, from a woman who has never come to a show, a graduation, or her wedding. And about her grandmother, 92, now in the hospital, planning to return to Taiwan for good — the person who believed in her, and, as Atsuko learned from a journalist decades later, the person who kidnapped her.
Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com
Chapters ☀️
00:00:00 Intro: The Grandmother Who Kidnapped Her Twice
00:04:47 The Speed Dating Marriage: When Grandma Arranged Everything
00:07:22 Born in Taiwan, Delivered by an Untrained Doctor
00:17:06 The First Kidnapping
00:38:46 The Kitchen Knife Incident
00:41:37 Coming to America: Living Undocumented in Uncle Paul's Garage
00:45:57 Uncle JT and the Guitar Named "Happiness"
01:00:33 Warding Off the Demons: Comedy as Childhood Survival
00:59:00 Parasailing in Bali: When Dad Tried to Make Up for Lost Time
01:06:36 The Moana Metaphor: Searching for Mom's True Heart
01:08:52 My Kidnapper Is My Best Friend: The Complex Truth
01:12:02 Grandma Goes Back to Taiwan: The Final Separation
ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Atsuko Okatsuka
Executive Producer: David Begnaud, Olivier Delfosse, Justin McGoldrick
Booker: Sully Bloch
Director of Photography: Foster Parks
Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)
Social: Maxim Trofimenko, Kylee Anderson, Gracie Pekrul
Theme Music: Slipstream
Post-Production: Longwave Digital & David & Luana Co.
CONNECT WITH US:
The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: Instagram: believedpodcast