For any parent who can no longer make physical contact with his or her child, or worse still, no contact at all, I would have to agree and say that is very tragic!
I would tend to agree, depending on the circumstances. In this case I have no idea of the circumstances or either side of the story. I'm not even clear on the laws in this case.
All I can say is lambasting all Japanese women as "bad wives" for whatever happened in your case is quite absurd though.
No! I don't think so!
My wife took my two sons on a so called holiday back in January of 2009 and once there told me that she would not be returning. This is becoming a huge problem and as Japan still refuses to sign the Hague Convention, there is not a thing I can do! I certainly didn't see this coming. Japanese girlfriends are one thing, wives are another. Also, her mother plays a huge role in this mess and does her best to prevent my family and I from talking to my sons when attempting to make contact. As you can try and imagine, it has been extremely frustrating and stressful. Japan is a haven for abducted children and their government hasn't done a thing to change this despite coming under increasing pressure from Western governments. Be very careful guys!
I would say that your case is very rare, but never the less , very sad. I hope you can get things sorted so that you can at least see your kids. I don't know what I would do if I could not see my kids.
It is in no way my intention to paint all Japanese women as bad wives. All I can go by is my own personal experiences and those I know who have and are experiencing problems with their marriages in Japan and in Australia. There tends to be two types of Japanese women here in Australia, those who never want to leave and those who are so homesick that they can not function outside of Japan. My wife and others I know fit in to the later category. Nearly all of my friends here in Australia have Japanese wives and there are many problems. I still have many friends in Japan and the only reason they continue with their suffering is because they do not want to lose their children.
There are also the cultural differences. Nearly all Japanese wives I know here do not want to work! This causes a lot of problems in most marriages. Also, house work is another thing which is lacking as most women rely on their mothers to do most things.
I lived, worked and studied in Japan for over 10 years and have seen many marriages go South. I just never thought that it would happen to me as my purpose of going to Japan in the first place was to study the language and culture.
There are also the cultural differences. Nearly all Japanese wives I know here do not want to work ! This causes a lot of problems in most marriages. Also, house work is another thing which is lacking as most women rely on their mothers to do most things.
Unless they can speak fairly decent English for office job otherwise most likely end up waiting tables at Japanese restaurants or working mininum wage part time cashier clerks at Japanese supermarkets.
Japan is a first rate modern nation,why would they live overseas as second-class citizens and treated as such at work if they don't have to subject to this kind of humiliation by being back home.
Marriage for visa or citizenship is quite rare, I mean someone gets married to emigrate to other countries now, so it (international marriage) goes more and more personal as your friend attitude shows. Some feel quite satisfied in your country, the others not.
Unless they can speak fairly decent English for office job otherwise most likely end up waiting tables at Japanese restaurants or working mininum wage part time cashier clerks at Japanese supermarkets.
Japan is a first rate modern nation,why would they live overseas as second-class citizens and treated as such at work if they don't have to subject to this kind of humiliation by being back home.
My wife has a level 6 in IELTS (International English Language Testing System) which would allow her to enter any university here in Australia. Wages for women are far higher here than in Japan where many Japanese women are exploited by their company and make an average of 800-900 yen per hour.
All of Japan wants North Korea to account for the abductions of children like Megumi Yokota and return her if she is still alive. But despite this nationally shared experience of grief, the Japanese government will not return children from other countries abducted to Japan by Japanese citizens. Further, Japan refuses international calls to sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. This widely signed treaty requires a country to expeditiously return abducted children to their country of habitual residence. The same thing Japan is asking of North Korea!! Japan is the only member of the G7 who has not signed this treaty.
In international parental abduction cases brought to court, Japan claims that parental abduction is not a crime. Courts up to the Supreme Court of Japan routinely refuse to return children to foreign parents with legal custody already ordered by foreign courts. Foreign courts in the country the children were living at the time the Japanese parent abducted them. Thus the Japanese government believes that its own citizens should be allowed to abduct children from other countries with impunity. Certainly, the result of the issues on this page mean that Japanese feel free to abduct their child and run back to Japan where they will be protected from legal challenges by the non-Japanese parent who has legal custody in a foreign country.
The Issues
•Japan has not ratified the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
•Parental Kidnapping is not considered a crime in Japan, in particular when it is done by Japanese citizens. (Discrimination Against Foreign Parents)
•Japanese courts do not recognize foreign custody orders
•Japan does not honor extradition requests for crimes involving a non-custodial Japanese parent abducting their child back to Japan
•Legal Abduction To Japan (Forced Retention of Children and Transport To Japan)
•Legal Domestic Abduction (Forced Retention of Children In Japan)
Solutions We Want To See
•Japan must sign and ratify the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
•Pass enforceable laws guaranteeing the return of abducted children to parents under Hague cases. These laws and regulations must be scrutinized very carefully because it would be very easy to ratify this treaty and then simply allow courts to continue ruling against foreign parents in ways to ensure the treaty is rarely if ever applied.
•Allow foreign parents whose children were abducted prior to the treaty becoming enforceable to file Hague-style complaints even though a year may have passed since the abduction. Setup a special commission to find equitable and enforceable solutions to these cases.
•This section is not complete -- more solutions coming.
Essays
•Possible Japanese Criminal Penalties for Child Abduction To Japan
•The Japan Federation of Bar Associations talks about Cross Border Abductions
•How to Retrieve Your Child Abducted To Japan
•Tips on How to Find Your Child In Japan
•Non-Legal Options to Recover Your Abducted Child
Documentation
•Murray Woods tried to be a responsible father by agreeing to let his ex-wife, Ayako Maniwa Wood, take their children to visit their sick grandfather in Japan. She never brought them back. The Saitama family court recognized the valid Canadian custody orders, but decided to "kidnapped jurisdiction" and give custody to the Japanese mother.
•"Etsuko has ignored all orders of the Court since October 2001...and now the United States government and the state of Utah are pursing criminal charges against both Mr. and Mrs. Allred." The Japanese police know where they are, but won't arrest them. Read more about Michael Gulbraa's fight to get his children returned from Japan.
•"...the Osaka Family Court rendered a mandatory visitation schedule: since I was the custodial father, I am entitled to see my son once a year for 3 hours." Samuel Lui's custody of his son was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Japan, yet the Japanese legal system was not able to physically remove his son from his ex-wife. Read more...
•A Japanese father traveled to Cuba to abduct their 2 year old daughter to Japan where he can hide her from her Chilean-Cuban mother who had legal custody. After a divorce in Japan using allegedly forged signatures, the mother is still being denied all contact. The story is here... (Update: It turns out the Tsugunari Yamada, the father has remarried, so may now be a bigamist if he is convicted of forgery in the ongoing trial.)
•A Japanese wife kidnapped their child Isabelle, and abandoned her in a children's home. After, Frans Pau, her French-Danish father found her and got her into a school in Japan, the mother took her away again. The mother has now been sentenced to jail by a French court and is wanted by Interpol. A Japanese court allowed the mother to change Isabelle's name to Maki despite the fact that Frans had legal custody, even in Japan. After that, a Japanese court inexplicably gave custody back to the mother. Read more ...
•"Leave me alone. Alexander will see you when he is 18. " -Misako Ueshima who is now wanted by the Royal Canadian Police for international child abduction. Read more...
•A Japanese mother living in Germany with her daughter decides that joint custody means she can take her child back to Japan without telling the father, Stefan. A German court disagrees. Read more...
•"On November 15th 2003, two days before the death of their mother from breast cancer, my twin 5-year old children, Karsten Stouffer and Maple Stouffer were abducted by their Japanese Grandfather, Fumihiko Miyazaki and are now in Sapporo Japan." Read more
Parental Abduction in Japan
All of Japan wants North Korea to account for the abductions of children like Megumi Yokota and return her if she is still alive. But despite this nationally shared experience of grief, the Japanese government will not return children from other countries abducted to Japan by Japanese citizens. Further, Japan refuses international calls to sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. This widely signed treaty requires a country to expeditiously return abducted children to their country of habitual residence. The same thing Japan is asking of North Korea!!
My wife has a level 6 in IELTS ( International English Language Testing System ) which would allow her to enter any university here in Australia.
Wages for women are far higher here than in Japan where many Japanese women are exploited by their company and make an average of 800-900 yen per hour.
Your initial complait was Japanese wives don't want to work for a living overseas,not that she won't further her own education instead of sitting around at home.I don't know how it is in Australia,there was a time in America that local companies didn't hire foreign-borns with accent.
Sure,Japan has a long way to go on closing the wage gap between both genders.No matter,Japanese have been working really hard for the good of their country and improved living standards considerably since 1945.
Japan is same as elsewhere in the world,one's salary is based on education and work experiences etc.
Just because its not as heinous doesn't mean that abduction of any for deserves protection. Japan wishes to put its citizens at an advantage, which is unacceptable in the area of human rights. This is a matter to be settled based on its own facts and without reference to other forms of abduction.
No, this is not the same thing as the abductions by North Korea. Get that straight first and foremost.
Koreans who abduct Japanese are not their parents! Big difference.
Sorry! Myself and many other fathers in this position would have to strongly disagree. There are many forms of abduction, but at the end of the day abduction is abduction. When a Japanese woman takes the children on a so called holiday and never returns, disappears off the face of the earth and contact between the father and children is completely cut, what do YOU call that? I am in contact with many fathers who have not heard or seen of their children in years.
In trying to gain some form of compasion from the West, Japan has to realize that it must face up to its own wrong doings. Between 1910 and 1945 how many Koreans were forced to work as virtual slaves in Japan? To this day Koreans are still treated as second class people (not citizens) in Japan and are denied many of the basic rights, even though the were born and raised in Japan.
Thank you for sharing your situation and expanding on the details with further information Jake. It is much appreciated and whatever the situation is, I hope something works out for the best of the kids and your family.
I think you posts single-handedly turned this thread into something worth reading. I found this extremely interesting and important information after reading it all.
Thanks Emoni. Your comments are much appreciated. Once again, it is not my intention to paint all Japanese women as bad wives. I just wanted to make you guys aware that as more and more Western men marry Japanese women, this problem is becoming an ever increasing one and if this should ever happen to you, your rights are virtually non-existent. There is much information on the world wide web and a good place to start is Japan children's rights network.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
American parents struggle to reunite with children in Japan
Overseas custody rights: American parents struggle to reunite with children in Japan
By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, August 4, 2009
It's been six years, three weeks and one day since Navy Cmdr. Paul Toland last saw his only child, Erika — one of 118 Japanese-American children living in Japan and cut off from their American parents. "I count every day," Toland said. "You can't lose track."
Toland's emotional tally began July 13, 2003, when he returned from work to discover his wife had surreptitiously moved out of their home in a Navy housing complex in Yokohama, Japan, taking Erika — just 9 months old at the time — with her.
Toland's estranged wife, a native of Japan who became a U.S. citizen during their marriage, moved to Tokyo and barred him from visiting his daughter. Her actions likely would have resulted in felony kidnapping charges in the United States but were essentially protected by Japanese criminal and family laws, which do not recognize parental child abduction as a crime and do not acknowledge foreign custody orders.
But while Japanese nationals cannot be arrested for abducting their own children in Japan, foreigners in Japan would likely face criminal penalties if they attempted to take their children back, according to Jeremy Morely, a New York City-based attorney who has worked on parental child abduction cases in Japan for more than a decade.
Toland, a medical administration officer now based in Bethesda, Md., is at the forefront of a growing international debate over parental child abduction in Japan. Even after his wife died in 2007, he has been unable to gain custody of or even see Erika, who now lives with her maternal grandmother.
At the heart of the issue is Japan's refusal to accede to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction of 1980. The treaty, which includes 81 countries as signatories, prevents parents from fleeing with their children to or within those countries before a court can determine custody. It protects rights of access for both parents and includes measures to safeguard victims of spousal and child abuse.
In May, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Canada held a symposium in Tokyo and released a joint statement urging Japan to sign the Hague convention — the first such public declaration after decades of lobbying Japanese government officials behind the scenes.
But after nearly 30 years of multilateral diplomacy, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., thinks a hard-line approach is now in order. In July, Smith introduced the International Child Abduction Prevention Act of 2009, which would allow for economic sanctions against countries that refuse to take action in international child abduction cases. "Japan is one of the most egregious abusers in this regard, and that's unacceptable," Smith said. "If we continue to allow this to happen, we will get much more of it because there will be impunity."
U.S. State Department reports show the number of open cases of parental abductions in Japan involving American children has doubled since last year, rising from 40 cases involving 50 children to 80 cases affecting 118 children. Most cases involve Japanese mothers and non-Japanese fathers whose breakup results in the mother keeping her children away from their father in Japan.
State Department officials agree the problem is getting worse as international marriages and divorces continue to rise and more parents report their cases to the department, but they contend Japan is moving toward taking action. "They are beginning to recognize that this is an issue that sets Japan apart from [its closest allies]," said Michelle Bond, deputy assistant secretary for overseas citizens services at the State Department. Japan is the only major industrialized nation not to have signed the treaty and is behind only Mexico and India in the number of parental child abduction cases involving American children, Bond said.
Japan's reluctance to sign the Hague treaty stems from its tradition of sole-custody divorces, Bond said, wherein one parent makes a complete and lifelong break from his or her children when a couple splits. The parent who has physical custody at the time of divorce tends to keep the children, and police will not intervene in custody cases, Bond said.
In an interview with Stars and Stripes last month, Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Yasumasa Kawamura said: "Japan fully recognizes that the Hague Convention is one of the most effective tools to protect children's rights and well-being." But a gap exists between "what the treaty requires and Japan's social expectations based on Japan's family relationship and legal system," he said.
The current system isn't working for Rick Gates, a civilian Department of Defense employee at Naha Port on Okinawa and a former Marine who first came to Japan on assignment in 1994. Gates, 38, has not been allowed to visit his two children, both American citizens, in almost a year despite having a Japanese custody order for his oldest daughter, Monami, 8.
Soon after his divorce in early 2008, Gates said, he and his Japanese wife decided to reconcile. Though he got custody of Monami during the proceedings, he allowed her to stay with his ex-wife and his son, Kaito, 6. "I didn't want to split the children up," he said. "I had every belief that we were going to restore our marriage, so I didn't push the issue of getting my daughter turned over to me." But within a few months, Gates said, his ex-wife changed her mind about reconciling and eventually stopped him from visiting his children or even speaking to them on the phone.
Like Toland, Gates has worked with the State Department to have a third-party mediator from the embassy check on the status of his children in what is referred to as a "welfare and whereabouts visit." Both Toland and Gates hope political pressure from Capitol Hill will finally help turn the tide in Japan.
These situations are not really so similar... The case you linked to is not about parental abduction at all; it's a case of child welfare where the mother is trying to get her children back after they were taken from her under suspicion of child abuse. The post brings up interesting questions about the cultural differences in child-raising and just how much involvement the government should have, and when it should step in for the child's well being... but the post is written to make it seem like it's all just a big conspiracy to increase the British population by stealing children from poor Japanese mothers.... I'm not buying it.
Also, the case in your link is completely different from a parent taking their children and essentially fleeing to a country where they know the other parent has less-than-equal rights, or no ability to claim custody over their own children.
Also, the case in your link is completely different from a parent taking their children and essentially fleeing to a country where they know the other parent has less-than-equal rights, or no ability to claim custody over their own children.
Sorry! Myself and many other fathers in this position would have to strongly disagree. There are many forms of abduction, but at the end of the day abduction is abduction. When a Japanese woman takes the children on a so called holiday and never returns, disappears off the face of the earth and contact between the father and children is completely cut, what do YOU call that? I am in contact with many fathers who have not heard or seen of their children in years.
In trying to gain some form of compasion from the West, Japan has to realize that it must face up to its own wrong doings. Between 1910 and 1945 how many Koreans were forced to work as virtual slaves in Japan? To this day Koreans are still treated as second class people (not citizens) in Japan and are denied many of the basic rights, even though the were born and raised in Japan.
Just start another thread.
And to make it better argument, learn a bit more about the history and the present situation without relying too much on the nationalistic dogma.
For another thread idea related to human right...
Correct me if I am wrong, but a local community in your country said "no" when some religious minority tried to build a school.
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- The case of a Tennessee man jailed in Japan for trying to snatch back his children from his estranged wife is not as clear-cut as it's been made out to be, authorities here said Wednesday.
A Tennessee court awarded Christopher Savoie custody of his son, Isaac, and daughter, Rebecca.
The father, Christopher Savoie, apparently became a naturalized Japanese citizen four years ago, listing a permanent address in Tokyo, they said.
And while he and Noriko Savoie, a Japanese native, divorced in Tennessee, the two never annulled their marriage in Japan, Japanese officials said.
Also, the two children at the center of the case hold Japanese passports, they said.
"His chances of getting his children back home to the States, I think, are pretty slim right now," Jeremy Morley, Savoie's lawyer in the United States, told CNN's "AC 360" on Tuesday night. Watch how dad landed in Japanese jail »
"We're getting this in the hands of Interpol. We're putting the pressure," he added. "We want diplomatic pressure. We want the United States government to act strongly." Read about why the case is not news in Japan
Savoie was arrested Monday when he snatched his two children -- 8-year-old Isaac and 6-year-old Rebecca -- as Noriko Savoie was walking them to school in Fukuoka, about 680 miles (1,100 kilometers) southwest of the capital, Tokyo.
Don't Miss
Blog: Man's plight not news in Japan
He headed for the U.S. consulate in that city to try to obtain passports for them, authorities said. But Japanese police, alerted by Noriko Savoie, arrested him.
U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Wednesday, "We have paid a consular visit on Mr. Savoie and we stand ready to help him in any way that we can."
"Obviously, this is a very difficult issue," he said. "... The United States and Japan have an important partnership but on this particular issue, the issue of ... abduction, we have different points of view."
Japanese authorities said Wednesday that Savoie was eating well and was staying in a jail cell by himself.
He will be held for 10 days while prosecutors sort out the details of the case. Watch a discussion of U.S.-Japan custody cases »
"I know he had to go to the hospital for blood pressure issues," said Amy Savoie, whom Savoie married after divorcing Noriko Savoie in Tennessee in January. "The gentleman from the consulate was able to contact me this morning, and he confirmed that Christopher had gone to the hospital. The first night he needed medication for his high blood pressure."
After their Tennessee divorce, Noriko Savoie agreed to live in Franklin, Tennessee, to be close to the children, taking them to Japan for summer vacations.
In March, Savoie requested a restraining order to prevent her from taking the children to Japan, fearing she would not return.
"I was on a speaker phone telephone call once when she proclaimed to him, 'You have no idea what I'm capable of," said Amy Savoie. "So, yes, he had the idea." Watch Amy Savoie discuss custody battle »
Noriko Savoie could not be reached by CNN for comment.
On the day that the two children were to begin school in August, Savoie learned Noriko Savoie had fled with them to Japan.
After that, Savoie filed for and was granted full custody of the children by a Tennessee court. And Franklin police issued an arrest warrant for Noriko Savoie.
But Japan is not a party to a 1980 Hague Convention on international child abduction.
"We continue to encourage Japan to join with our countries and sign the Hague Convention," Crowley said Wednesday.
Foreign parents have had little luck in regaining custody, the U.S. State Department said.
"She has committed a felony, the mother," Morley said. "It's a very serious felony. She would go to jail for serious time if she were here.
"But Japan has a different legal system and a different set of customs and ideas about custody. And their idea is that somebody who is Japanese and the mother should be entitled to have the kids and have the kids alone. The fact that they were living here is kind of irrelevant, and the fact that there's a court order here is irrelevant."
So, Savoie flew to Fukuoka to try to get back his children -- and landed himself in jail.
"These kids are the ones that are suffering," Morley said. "These kids are without their father, and their father needs to be a part of their life. It's not fair that he's been taken away from them."
8 ambassadors urge Japan to solve global child custody disputes
Saturday 17th October, 02:58 AM JST
TOKYO —
Ambassadors from the U.S. and seven other countries urged Japan on Friday to quickly resolve a growing number of international child custody disputes, a day after Japanese police freed an American man accused of snatching his own children.
Japanese law allows only one divorced parent as custodian—almost always the mother—leaving many fathers without access to their children until they are grown.
In a growing number of custody cases, Japanese mothers bring their children back to Japan and refuse to let their foreign ex-husbands visit.
U.S. Ambassador John Roos and ambassadors from Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Italy, New Zealand and Spain told Justice Minister Keiko Chiba that Japan should sign an international convention on child abduction and set up ways to allow foreign parents to visit their children.
ﾂ"We place the highest priority on the welfare of children who have been the victims of international parental child abduction and believe that our children should grow up with access to both parents,ﾂ" they said in a joint statement after the meeting.
Japanese police on Thursday released Christopher Savoie, who was arrested Sept 28 after his Japanese ex-wife told police he grabbed their two children, ages 8 and 6, as she was walking them to school, forced them into a car and drove away.
Prosecutors have not pressed charges against Savoie, but they haven't yet dropped the case, authorities said. Kidnapping minors in Japan carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.
Savoie was allowed to leave Japan on the condition he does not take the children with him. He also promised to settle the dispute with his ex-wife through negotiations, according to the office of his Japanese lawyer, Tadashi Yoshino.
The Savoies lived in Japan from 2001 and 2008 and moved to the U.S. in 2008. The couple was divorced in Tennessee in January, and Noriko Savoie was given primary custody.
In August, she brought the children to Japan without telling her husband. A U.S. court issued a warrant for her arrest, stripped her custodian status and granted it to her ex-husband.
The eight ambassadors renewed their demands that Japan sign the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, which all their countries have joined. The convention seeks to ensure that custody decisions are made by the courts in the country where the children originally lived and that the rights of access of both parents are protected.
Tokyo has argued that signing the convention may not protect Japanese women and their children from abusive foreign husbands, but Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada told reporters Friday that Japan is considering signing the convention.
ﾂ"Each country has different views on parenting, and we are studying how to resolve the issue,ﾂ" Okada said.
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
^ Situations like this make me cringe and sit back in awe that legal structures don't exist to handle this situation. EXTREME pressure needs to be put on Japan to get their act together on this issue.
I only hope that this rather public story brings more attention to this problem.
Yes, I agree.
But this case is a bit mysterious. All parties except the guy's new wife are Japanese nationals, the husband, the wife and the kids. And the man started the divorce procedure soon after the wife and the kids arrived in the states.
I understand some nationalistic sensationalism by the media, though.
For any parent who can no longer make physical contact with his or her child, or worse still, no contact at all, I would have to agree and say that is very tragic!
Well,... I am in quite a similar situation myself,... but after all these years, my wife has sent me things (like during the new year), though not that often, and allowed me to communicate with my son. She would send photos of my son to me when I asked her to,... she would call me if she needed help, financial help, that is,... (is she making use of me ?)...
My son is in Junior High School (JHS) now, 13,.... last she told a week ago that it's better to go see them in August, during the summer holidays,... but I was thinking I'd better go now since I have the time,... you know it's year-end now and many holidays like that,...
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