International Child Abduction in Japan - Divorce, Custody and Visitation in Japan

Divorce, Custody and Visitation in Japan

Main article: Family law in Japan See also: Parental responsibility (access and custody)

In Japan, according to 2004 data from National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, mothers receive custody in roughly 80 percent of divorces involving children. This is a shift from 1970 which awarded custody to mothers only in 50 percent of cases. Similarly, in the U.S. one source estimates that fathers received sole or joint custody 26 percent of the time while mothers or someone other than the father received sole custody 74 percent of the time.

While the law in some countries, such as France or the United States, provide for joint custody in divorce cases involving children, Japanese law does not provide for this arrangement. Jeremy D. Morley, an American lawyer who has handled many abduction cases in Japan, has pointed out that the practice of sharing child custody after a divorce is "alien" to Japanese and not found in Japanese culture or history, which may help to explain its absence from Japanese law. In Japan, when a marriage with children legally dissolves, full parental custody and authority is awarded to only one parent. Moreover, this custody ruling creates complete legal separation of the non-custodial parent from his or her biological children. An academic article discussing the work of Takao Tanase, notable legal scholar of comparative study of American and Japanese legal system, asserts that "the real difference lies in the two cultures' diverging conception of social parenthood, and thus of the identity of the person who holds parental rights: the noncustodial American parent remains a legal parent at least in part because he or she remains a social parent, in aspiration if not reality, while the traditional Japanese view is the opposite." The paper then goes on to describe a Japanese case whereby a father is granted a primary custody of the children after a divorce. A year after the divorce, the father marries another woman. Subsequently, the son from the previous marriage is adopted out without having given any notice to the son's biological mother and, moreover, her subsequent attempt to regain the primary custody of her biological child failed in court. In Japanese law, irrespective of her biological link, her separation from her son was complete at the point of losing the custody. The paper further states that in Japan it is seen as preferable that children make a permanent break with the non-custodial parent because creating a legal "right" for parent would cause conflict damaging to the welfare of the child. The Japan Times states that experts in Japan have been skeptical about the benefits of complete joint custody because the child is tossed back and forth between the parents for their own benefit.

The typical 'deal' in Japan is that, upon divorce, the father pays nothing for the child's support, and he never sees his child. It is noted that the decision by family courts in Japan with regard to both visitation and child support are unenforceable. There are several consequences to this lack of enforcement. At first, the courts strongly prefer that divorcing couples agree to child custody arrangements in mediation. If mediation fails, the court can intervene and has the power to determine which parent shall have parental authority. Article 819 of Japanese Civil Code states that "In the case of judicial divorce, the court shall determine which parent shall have parental authority." The primary custodian, or caregiver, as defined by the Japanese legal system, is the parent who has physical possession of the child at the time the case is initially brought to court in Japan. In other words, the court will likely choose the parent who already has possession. Colin P.A. Jones, a professor at Doshisha Law School, states that parental rights are not recognised in Japanese law, pointing out an academic debate in Japan over whether visitation was a right of the parent or the child or something else. In regard to visitation/access, the Supreme Court held in 2000 that visitation was a right of neither parent nor child.

Consequently, court-mandated visitation in Japan only occurs with the cooperation of the custodial parent. U.S. Department of State website states that "compliance with Family Court rulings is essentially voluntary, which renders any ruling unenforceable unless both parents agree." Consequently, any attempt to obtain visitation (or child support and/or alimony) through legal enforcement would be futile. If the custodial parent, usually the mother, refuses to cooperate with visitation, the other parent, usually the father, will often refuse to pay child support. According to New York City-based international family lawyer Jeremy D. Morley:

A charitable view of the Japanese system of divorce is that it favors a ‘clean break’ so that the divorced parties have little or nothing more to do with each other after the divorce. A less generous interpretation is that it permits the spouse with economic assets (usually the husband) to keep most of his assets, avoid payment of alimony and provide little or no child support, but the price he pays is the abandonment of any relationship with his children, while the other spouse is punished economically, but keeps her children.

In the 82 signatory countries custody rulings differ by country. While the mother usually gains sole or primary custody, there is an increasing trend in other developed countries to shift to shared parenting and joint custody. Enforcement of custody orders is also an issue in those countries that usually award sole or primary custody, as it is in Japan. In the UK, fathers' rights groups have advocated for changes to the Child Support Act including child support, shared parenting and access to children, and lack of enforcement of court orders.