Japan to join Hague Convention

This is pretty fucking big news.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110519/wl_asia_afp/japandiplomacyrightschildkidnappolitics

 

About time. What ever happened to that guy from the US who tried to snatch his kid back?

 

yes, about fucking time they woke up. This is good news :nod:

 

Still a long way to go though. Note that there is no mention of reforming their own bullshit laws concerning divorce. Long story short: there is no such thing as joint custody of any kind in Japan. If it ever comes down to it, don't grant your spouse a divorce in Japan. Require to relocate for 6 months and get one in your country of residence. Only way to have some type of legal right to see your child.

A. Snow:
Pretty sure the guy was eventually released... if we're talking about the same one. Honestly though, there have been many. It's sad.

 

I have a Japanese workmate who is married to a Egyptian woman (I think she is a japanese citizen though) and he isnt allowed to see his son in Japan.
Fathers always get it bad......even if the woman is unfit to take care of the child they almost always get custody.
Fathers are expected to pay towards children they have no contact with.

 

Yes, but these laws are rarely, if ever, enforced. The kids get fucked in the end. It's painful.

Here's some reading:
http://www.debito.org/successstoriesjune2006.html

I don't agree with a lot of his site, but he is informative, definitely. Unfortunately for him, he has extensive experience on the subject of Divorce in Japan and has even written a book on it http://www.debito.org/inappropriate.html


Seems if I read Debido's blog more often I'd have made this thread a few months ago.

 

fresch news

 

Won't be retroactive though. Might help future couples.

 

Define retroactive... and have you read something I haven't? From what I've read, there is no reason to think it will not be retroactive. The cases are about child abduction... many times when the abducting parent is a fucking fruit cake, and often when they have Interpol arrest warrants on their heads.

What if a couple got divorced abroad last year and Japan joins the convention this year. In 2 years time, there's a dispute where the wife commits some light child abduction? Do they look at the date of divorce and say they won't recognize the international ruling b/c they joined the Hague convention after?

Anyway, it will be interesting to see, but like this guy says, it will likely take a long fucking time to see the results.

EDIT: Also Interesting from Here

This is at least as important as joining The Hague Convention itself, as it will allow left behind Japanese fathers to not get fucked as hard.

 

That's how it is in most countries though. Trust me, I speak with experience when I say that a mother has to be way beyond crazy to not have custody and not to receive all children's benefits.

 

Not in America, necessarily. The majority, yes, but that's most likely due to the "traditional" family. Only the lowest of the low will not get visitation rights to their children.

In Japan, when they say "almost always" there has to be something SERIOUSLY fucked up... like the mother in jail, and that's about all I can think of. Honestly, I don't know exactly what would happen if my wife died. A friend of mine's wife killed herself and they had a 4 year old daughter. He was scared the in-laws were going to play some bullshit (they already started indoctrinating his daughter, but telling her mom was dead b/c of him) so without a word of warning packed his shit, bought 2 tickets for the UK, Bob's his uncle, he's still there. And now, their granddaughter doesn't speak a lick of Japanese (whereas before her English was pretty crappy).

Anyhoo, that's a tangent. The main point is, the whole concept of the "koseki" is some remnant of old Japan, and totally fucks people that aren't Japanese. My son is in my wife's koseki. I'm not. Combine that with the fact that there is no concept of joint custody, and you have human rights fisting, for lack of a better word.