International Child Custody Disputes in Wonderful Japan

I suppose that this is not news and most people with more than a passing acquaintance with Japan are aware of it, but Japan is a haven for Japanese spouses of an international marriage who kidnap children.

Many non-Japanese have found out the hard way that the Japanese government and court system will ignore international arrest warrants, international child custody decisions, international kidnapping, visitation rights, and more. As in most things, your rights as a foreigner are very weak if they exist at all. You certainly will be in serious trouble if your dispute is with a Japanese. Decisions seem to be based on the whim of the judge in the case more than law.

You can read some of the personal stories of non-Japanese custodial parents and how Japanese "courts" have served them here: http://www.crnjapan.com/pexper/en/

Naturally, of the hundreds of cases, there must be some cases where the parent has regained legal custody, visitation rights, or had other legal victories. After all, Japan does have a firm, non-discriminative legal system right? Those are listed here: http://www.crnjapan.com/success/en/ . All 0 of them as of this date.

But don't be too critical, after all, this is a traditional Japanese custom which, as a baka gaijin, you can never understand. (Understand in the Japanese sense, meaning agree with.)