Fairy tales aren't real. They can't be, because life isn't perfect.
This was the first life lesson that a three year old Takara Hirukashita learned, from her mother no less.
She was the only child of Nami Hirukashita, a Japanese woman that fled her home country to be free to live her life as she wished, and Antonio Manfredi, one of the most lethal mob bosses in Italy.
It sounded like a fairy tale, their story.
Nami arrived in Italy in 1974 not knowing a word of the language and barely any money to her name. She only had one bag of belongings and it was mostly clothes. She wondered around completely lost and helpless, not realizing what she had gotten into when she chose to go to Italy.
Truth of it is she had fallen in love with the idea of Italy. She had always heard how it was a beautiful place with stunning artwork, exquisite food, stimulating people, and breathtaking culture. She developed the fantasy from a very young age, moving to this new place and getting free of her family's agenda.
She had it all planned out, she would find a Japanese to Italian dictionary and work her way from there until she could start over. She admitted it was a long shot but it was better than never breathing a sigh of relief in her home country.
She was the eldest child of seven in her home and because of this she always had a pressure on her to be perfect. Perfect grades in school, perfect social skills, perfect manners, perfect everything. Every moment of her life was decided for her. She never had the chance at freedom or control of her own life. Her parents had an arranged marriage waiting for her once she completed college and the man was completely for the idea he owned her.
Nami was tired of never having control of her life, she was tired of people owning her, and she was tired of not living her life. So, upon her college graduation when she was 24 years old, she fled to Italy.
She had studied Architecture and was at the top of her class, said to be one of the brightest in Japan.
She was believed to have the perfect life and everyone that knew her thought her arraigned marriage would be perfect as well and together they would have perfect children.
It was a nice fairy tale. It was a nice lie.
Antonio Manfredi grew up with the ways of the mafia; his father had been a top member and his father and so on. The mafia was in his blood, so naturally, from a young age Antonio followed in his father's footsteps.
He was an all-around pleasant man, Antonio. He was a "man's man" and a "ladies man". He could befriend any male and charm any woman. He was the best at what he did and his leadership skills were phenomenal.
He knew how to get anyone in debt to him. Antonio could get any guy to do him a favor with nothing in return; he could get any woman on his arm with little effort.
He had everything, money, power, status, a clean police record and women. He had anything he wanted at his disposal.
But he wanted more.
He wanted a little woman to settle down with and to punch out a couple of kids.
He wanted to carry on the proud legacy of the Manfredi family.
So many of his fellow mafia members tried to sway Antonio into marrying their little girls, to make the mafia union that much stronger and for a while, he humored them. None of the girls were what he wanted, sure they were great to have around if he was hungry or horny but that was it. They weren't enough.
Everyone was questioning why he couldn't settle down and tried as they might he wouldn't choose anyone.
Soon he began looking outside of the mafia families to find what he wanted. Each was the same, they'd learn who he really was and take off...and then he had to whack them.
His parents tried to persuade Antonio to marry a sweet girl they had chosen for him long ago, to keep the family name strong, and he just wasn't interested.
Everyone thought they would make the perfect family of future mafia members.
What a pretty delusion.
Antonio and Nami's meeting was by complete chance. Honestly, if they had even been one second off their timing would have been completely off scale and they never would have bumped into each other.
On May 27, 1974 they met in front of the police station, of all places.
Nami had finally found a local police station she could go to. She had been going from station to station trying to find out where she could go to get some help getting on her feet. Each time they would send her somewhere, only for her to find out they only let her stay there for a few days. She spent her first two and a half weeks in Italy like this.
Antonio was on the way to a very important meeting to determine if they wanted to use the mole they had found in their little branch of the mafia or if they wanted to whack him. He hated going by cop shops, even though he had befriended almost every officer he had ever met. He gave a pleasant smile and a wave to the officers that happened to be looking outside as he walked by and looked down abruptly when he felt a light weight hit his chest.
Nami had been looking down at a map frantically making sure she was going the right direction and wasn't paying attention to where the people were. Startled when she ran into Antonio her head snapped up quickly.
For the first time ocean blue eyes met chocolate brown. Antonio was momentarily shaken up by the sight before him.
She was beautiful.
Nami looked up at the man before her shyly with an apologetic smile on her face with a light blush decorating it.
He was handsome.
Antonio gave her a charming smile, at this she tried to apologize in Italian and gave up at it coming out so poorly. She formally apologized to him in Japanese and gave a small bow.
Nami was surprised when he responded in Japanese telling her it was alright. Someone knew Japanese!
He asked her if she needed help, gesturing to the map in her hands to which she frantically asked him for help saying that she didn't know much Italian and had been helplessly lost since her arrival.
Antonio found it in his heart to help her out as best he could. Something about her drew him to her.
Nami found herself instantly charmed by his personality and was deeply grateful for his help.
Antonio escorted her to a coffee shop not far from the police station and helped her order. He told her he would be back in a few minutes and for her to wait here for him. She agreed and sat helplessly waiting for him, so relieved someone helped her out even this much.
Nami felt relief when Antonio returned maybe a half hour after he left. Antonio found himself happy she had stayed where he left her.
He ordered something and sat down with her.
That day, they spent hours talking with Antonio teaching her some basic words in Italian, which Nami picked up easily. When it came time for the shop to close Antonio escorted Nami back to the current place she was staying and promised her he would return the next morning. Nami happily accepted his promise and they said goodnight.
Over the next few weeks Antonio met with Nami almost every day and within a few months' time she became fluent with Italian as she was with Japanese. Not long after Nami was able to get a job and a place for herself, with Antonio guiding her all the way. They became completely lost within each other and just four months after meeting Antonio purposed to her, to which Nami happily agreed.
Within a year they married and Antonio told Nami everything about himself. Nami surprised him by completely accepting who he was, saying that no matter what she would love him and be by his side leaving Antonio deeply touched.
Nami's family was furious she married an Italian man. They accused him of being in the mafia, which she completely denied. Unfortunately, her family could not forgive her continued "dishonor" and she ended ties with her family completely.
Antonio was there for her through the heartache and his family welcomed her with open arms, even though they remained uncertain of an outside woman and over time they warmed up to Nami's kind personality. She was a breath of fresh air in their stagnant lives.
In the early spring of 1980, Nami was happy to discover she was pregnant with their first child. Antonio couldn't be happier.
Nami's pregnancy went smoothly and all the women in the community she found herself in were helpful and very supportive. She learned just how important a new life was to them and couldn't be happier. Finally she had the life she had dreamed of, a simple life with a man she deeply loved and a child on the way.
In no time at all it was January of 1981, their baby was due any day and everyone was happy for them. Nami found herself trying to calculate how much longer it would be until her baby had arrived, Antonio was working overtime so he could be there when the baby was born.
At last, January 26 of 1981 arrived and the couple found themselves blessed with a beautiful little girl they decided to call Takara Hirukashita. They went with Nami's family name to keep her completely separated from mafia association.
Antonio and Nami were both slightly baffled by Takara's eyes, she had neither of their eye color. She had Nami's hair but with Antonio's curls. She had extremely fair skin, unlike either of her parents. Her father sported a dark olive complexion while her mother had fair skin but it had a strong yellow undertone making her seem almost a light tan. Both her parents were confused as to why she looked so odd in comparison to them, but accepted and loved their daughter endlessly.
Antonio had a falling out with the mafia not long after Takara was born when Nami got deathly ill. She was now far too weak to bare anymore children, so Takara would remain an only child. The mafia tried to persuade Antonio to abandon Nami and take Takara from her feeling that Nami had become a liability to Antonio and the mafia. Antonio refused and with that he was exiled from his family, his home, and his very way of life.
Sensing impending danger if they remained close by Antonio packed the three of them up and they fled to China hoping to hide in the large Asian population. Antonio did his best to support his worsening wife and still very young daughter. Nami weakened so greatly that she could hardly walk from room to room, let alone care for her beloved daughter. Antonio showed no outward signs of the stress of his life getting to him but anyone could see it was gradually taking its toll on the man as it continued to weigh him down.
Over time Takara began her slow transformation into the beautiful young woman she would be in the future. She showed great displays of intelligence from a very young age and revealed she severely lacked in the ability to blend in with others around her. She quickly grasped her mother and father's native tongues along with the language of their current country of residence. She displayed depth beyond that of a young child, making many confused to how old the little girl was. She could have eloquent, in depth conversations with someone much older than her and keep them engaged.
Her father never ceased his pride for his young daughter. If anything else, she made the burden that had become his life bearable.
Even though their life was now hard, it still appeared as a fairy tale. What a pretty little lie her father worked hard to spin.
