Visitation and Abduction

ABCs The Foreign Correspondent “Sayonara Baby” https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDA2MzE2Nzcy.html

Japan is a beautiful and unique country with a rich culture and a long history. The people are generally kind and helpful. They adhere to etiquette and conform to social norms. If you look at the events after the Great Eastern Tohoku Earthquake, you are in awe of how smoothly Japan operated and how gentlemanly the populace was. Individuals from all over Japan came to help people in need. Some people sacrificed their lives to save others, as is what happened with the nuclear disaster after the tsunami. Japan is truly a wonderful place.

However, Japan does not come without it’s problems.

Child pornography is rampant despite the 2014 declaration that it is now criminal to possess produce, and distribute of child pornography in Japan.[Ref A] This declaration was for Tokyo to win the Olympics. 

Chikan, or molestation is also a wide spread concern. On trains, on escalators people (mainly women) are harassed, molested and have photos of there underwear taken while going up stairs. There are signs warning perpetrators not to behave in such a manner. It got to the point that apps were made [Ref B] to warn train goers of an offence, a women’s only car was added to trains and a law was passed. If you get accused, you are automatically guilty. If you do not run and get taken to the station masters office, your life is over. You are branded as a sex offender, and jailed, with a trial that automatically assumes your guilt. There have been cases where a person was accused of Chikan, and seeing no recourse, the accused leapt in front on a moving train. If you want to know more click here.

This general attitude extends to all matters, including divorce and child custody. It has been common in the past (and still current) where one parent abandons the family, and runs away. In other cases one parent takes the children and leaves because of money matters, violence etc. However, the single parent, no matter what the circumstance, is branded a bad person, exactly the same as an accused Chikan offender.

This is actually the case in many incidents. A parent is violent, gambles, drinks or wasted money and left the family in hardship. The person who wins custody keeps the children, and the parent left behind never sees them until they reach the age of twenty.

Case and point: Former Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi. A father of three, divorced his wife, took sole custody of his two sons, and tried to take custody of his third yet-to-be-born-son, Yoshinaga Miyamoto. His wife was alienated from her other two sons, and Former Prime Minister Koizumi proceeded to refuse to acknowledge Yoshinaga.  Only until his third son reached the age of 20, did Former Prime Minister Koizumi declare his older two sons should incorporate.
[Ref C]

What is sad is the fact that, not only is this normal behavior, but Former Prime Minister Koizumi was celebrated for bringing Yoshinaga back into his family. No one cared what happened to his ex wife.

In Japan, whether a parent is bad or not, once that person leaves or gets kicked out, it is socially acceptable to bar that person from ever seeing children until the child reaches 20, and takes action on their own to seek out the lost parent. This is the best case scenarios.

The worst case, parents fight in court for years and years and years, just for the opportunity for a 2 hour visitation 4 times a year. The custodian claims nonsensical reasons for denying visitation, and sadly, because the courts, retain the attitude of, “If you leave the family, you are a bad person.”

Take the public issue of Scott McIntyre, an Australian sports Journalist, whose spouse took the kids, left, claimed child abuse against Scott without proper evidence, and barred Scott from ever seeing them.  Panicked and seriously concerned for his children, Scott, who is still married by the way, under Japanese law trespassed onto his in-laws private property (namely the lobby of the communal apartment complex) was promptly arrested and sat in jail for 6 weeks. All this just for caring for his children’s well being. Police will never help in these matters, in fact they make it worse by hiding information that Scott has a constitutional right to, and treating Scott as less than human. Scott has a signed affidavit that his spouse was having an affair, and it’s quite possible that the affair prompted the kidnapping.
[Ref D]

In another case, Daisuke Nakano, former son-in-law to Kazuhide Nakano, Chairman and Group CEO of Mizkan Holdings Co.,Ltd. was forcibly separated from his son. Daisuke Nakano had a successful career in finance in Hong Kong before he met Seiko Nakano, Kazuhide’s father. Kazuhide was hoping for an heir to the Mizkan empire (a company with more than 200 years history in Japan) and so required Daisuke to give up his career and take the Nakano family name. Daisuke dreamed of having a family, and when his son was born, Daisuke was forcibly transferred to Osaka and separated from his family. Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, a major law firm that advises child abuse and human rights violations is harmful to society, advised the Nakano family to use personnel rights to separate Daisuke from his son. A proper blood heir can mean everything to a family, and in Japan, families can go to great lengths to “obtain” one. Unfortunately, (according to CAHRPAC research) this never made international news.
[Ref F]

Considering that these things can happen to high profile people, imagine how the system will treat the average Joe. After appealing in court, children who desperately wanted to see their parents suddenly say they hate their estranged parent and never want to see them.  “Judges in countless hearings have upheld the cultural imperative that it is in the child’s best interest to stay with whomever she is with at that moment.” [Ref F, 1.]

Judges and lawyers can allegedly pressure the child behind closed doors to say they do not want to see their non-custodian parent, and are forced to say this in open court to justify a ruling of no visitation.

“There are countless foreigners appealing to their governments to intervene on these issues, but in many case of abduction to Japan go unreported because families know there is little any government can do to help.” [Ref F, 1.]

Then there is this situation: Lawyers like, Toshiteru Shibaike, have been sent, for example to France, to teach Japanese parents how to kidnap their children without fear of ever having them returned.  These seminars teach parents how to falsely claim child abuse, get medical certificates from doctors claiming depression or as light as upset stomachs to deny return or visitation. [Ref F]

The government has even been asked in public, to answer why it has conducted such seminars, and the response is always vague, unclear and never answering anything. [Ref F, 3.]

In 2018, in a video with Japanese Diet Member Mio Sugita, issues of how Human Rights lawyers flocked to the UN to insist on laws protecting Japanese women from Japanese men in Domestic Violence cases. Diet Member Sugita seems amusedly surprised that lawyers can make false claims and no investigation is done to verify any validity of these accusations. [Ref F, 4.]  Again, they mention that in 90% of cases, the accused it considered guilty without corroborating evidence, and the accused’s life is essentially destroyed. Which is why, some accused opt to jump in front of trains to end their life.
No such action towards pushing for Joint Custody has ever been taken.

The Justice system, as it is, is no justice at all. Some single parents in Japan with custody are being abused by the system as well. These (Japanese) parents, who are doing a top job of raising their children, can have the state come and detain these children under suspicion of child abuse. Once detained, these parents are not able to see their children despite petitions or lawsuits. So it is not just parents who kidnap children, it’s departments in the government who are doing so, too.

This is all just one HUGE mess for children.

There are many class action suits in Japan trying to get the Ministry of Justice to change the laws to better protect all members of a family. However, the biggest obstacle in this battle may not be the government itself. The Japanese general populace is indifferent to these issues. And unless an overwhelming number of people complain, no change will ever take place. This complaint would have to  come in the form of peaceful but persistent protests, petitions, appeals to foreign governments and international concern.

Japan is a developed country, with one of the biggest economies in the world. The EU has considered economic sanctions against Japan. But considering will not bring about change. Definitive sanctions should be passed down by every concerned country. If Japan were to suddenly lose all trade privileges with the world, how quickly do you think they would act to fix the problem?

References

Reference A:

  1. Ciaran Varley. Is Japan turning a blind eye to paedophilia? https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/57eaaf23-0cef-48c8-961f-41f2563b38aa
    Retrieved 2021.03.20
  1. AFP. Child pornography is still widely available in Japan, a year after it was criminalised. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/57eaaf23-0cef-48c8-961f-41f2563b38aa
    Retrieved 2021.03.20
  1. AFP. Report on Child Pornography in Japan. https://hrn.or.jp/eng/news/2018/02/01/child-pornography-japan-report/
    Retrieved 2021.03.20

Reference B:

  1. Julian Ryall.‘Stop it!’: Japanese women turn to mobile app DigiPolice to scare off gropers on public transport. https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3011539/stop-it-japanese-women-turn-mobile-app-digipolice-scare-gropers
    Retrieved 2021.03.20
  1. Casey Baseel. Japan Railways to release new anti-groper smartphone app to help victims before chikan gets away. https://soranews24.com/2020/02/07/japan-railways-to-release-new-anti-groper-smartphone-app-to-help-victims-before-chikan-gets-away/
    Retrieved 2021.03.20
  1. Kayo Mukuda. New anti-groping website in Japan maps assault areas with user data. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190819/p2a/00m/0na/010000c
    Retrieved 2021.03.20
  1. Nanami Watanabe. Kumamoto city starts trial run of women-only streetcars. http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13729723
    Retrieved 2021.03.20

Reference C:

  1. Gary Hymes.Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi’s son, Yoshinaga Miyamoto. https://www.flickr.com/photos/garyhymes/70640763
    Retrieved 2021.03.20
  1. Stack Jones. JAPAN, CHILD ABDUCTION, THE HAGUE AND SANCTIONS. https://nihongonews.wordpress.com/category/child-abduction-in-japan-a-parents-nightmare/
    Retrieved 2021.03.20

Reference D:

  1. Magdalena Osumi. Australian father gets suspended term for trespassing at in-law’s Tokyo home. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/01/15/national/crime-legal/scott-mcintyre/
    Retrieved 2021.03.20
  1. Scott McIntyre. Parent arrested while trying to find his children.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX1u2ubGUZg
    Retrieved 2021.03.20
  1. Justin McCurry. Australian journalist gets suspended sentence over search for his children. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/15/australian-journalist-scott-mcintyre-gets-suspended-sentence-over-search-for-his-children-japan
    Retrieved 2021.03.20
  1. Tim Elliott. ‘Desperately worried’: Australian father faces jail in Japan amid custody battle. https://www.smh.com.au/national/desperately-worried-australian-father-faces-jail-in-japan-amid-custody-battle-20191220-p53m09.html
    Retrieved 2021.03.20
  1. NZ Herald. Australian dad Scott McIntyre’s 45 days of hell in Japan’s most notorious detention centres. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/australian-dad-scott-mcintyres-45-days-of-hell-in-japans-most-notorious-detention-centres/C5VO7BAEJK7NIZH5WMJ343C53Y/
    Retrieved 2021.03.20

Reference E:

  1. What is Daisuke Nakano’s career and profile? https://upu0.info/zinbutsu/nakanodaisuke/ 
    Retrieved 2021.03.20
  1. Daisuke Nakano. The truth about the Mizkan family feud. Am I less than a breeding horse? https://ameblo.jp/nakanodd/
    Retrieved 2021.03.20
  1. Daisuke Nakano. The truth of the Mizkan family turmoil “Father and son separation case” https://note.com/nakanodd/n/n23b0cd10070b
    Retrieved 2021.03.20

Reference F:

  1. Russell Goldman. JAPAN WON’T LET ABDUCTED KIDS GO https://www.international-divorce.com/abducted-kids-japan.htm
    Retrieved 2021.03.20
  1. Yoshiko Ikeda. Darkness of child abduction business continued Here are the “Villains” who killed the Hague Convention.https://hanada-plus.jp/articles/328 Retrieved 2021.03.20
  1. Japan Children Rights. How to get away with Child Kidnapping in Japan | True story | March 24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1s6KSbxEzA&t=46s 
    Retrieved 2021.03.20
  1. Japan Children Rights.. (Eng subs) Child abductions and 100%-win divorce business – Japanese Diet Member Mio Sugita https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt74Tmwiw4U
    Retrieved 2021.03.20