Japan has bowed to global pressure to end the parental abductions of children from broken international marriages, a report said Saturday...

...Tokyo has decided to ratify the treaty, the Kyodo news agency said, but will not sign up immediately as it needs time to bring its domestic laws in line with those of other signatory nations. Times of India Dead Link. Try the Japan Times here.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find the original Kyodo report yet. The question now, assuming the report is correct, is how much time it will take to bring Japanese laws in line with the rest.

Japan as #3: the benefits of hiring out national defense

Japan has come in as number 3 on the totally reliable, accurate, and based in reality Global Peace Index.

This rigorous scientific survey measures such things as such as "conflicts with foreign countries, numbers of murder cases, risks of terrorism, the level of respect for human rights and military expenditures." Japan Times

There are a total of 23 areas evaluated. I am not sure if one criteria would be: "Said country should have a lop-sided---or one-sided---"security treaty" which is somewhat weirdly referred to as an "alliance" with the country with the world's most powerful military. That would help in the area of reduced military expenditures, conflicts with foreign countries, and possibly the risk of terrorism, and it might have been enough to propel Japan ahead of warmongering #7 Luxembourg. I wonder, is the US penalized for providing personal and arms for the military security of Japan? A read of the Results and Methodology PDF at GPI's site might lead one to think so. No mention of the US military role in Japan's defense.

Would other criteria be: Does said country respect the human rights* of those of different ethnic/racial/national backgrounds? Has said country signed the Hague Convention Treaty on International Child Abductions? Not sure how those would affect the level of respect for human rights. Perhaps Japan improved four notches because we don't hear right-wingers in the government nor Hobbesian Bushidoists like Fujiwara Masahiko railing against too many human rights as much as we did a few years ago under the LDP.

A check of the GPI website shows a few other interesting tidbits which makes one wonder if the creators of The Onion are not behind this whole thing**. The main findings show that the most peaceful societies contain the following attributes in addition to the above:

• A well-functioning government
• High levels of freedom of information
• Good relations with neighboring states (We can see why Japan has improved in this area compared to the Koizumi/Abe eras.)
• Acceptance of others

(A a partial list from page 1 of the 2010 GPI Fact Sheet PDF available at the site.)

The lack of a refugee population also seems to raise the peace index of a country. Very helpful for a country like Japan that allows almost no refugees in.

A number of famous people have signed on as "Endorsers" of the GPI agreeing that: ..."without a world that is basically peaceful, it will be exceedingly difficult to solve many of the intractable problems facing humanity today." How insightful is that?

*The Results and Methodology PDF at the site uses "Levels of disrespect for human right (Political Terror Scale)" using a definition by Amnesty International/ and US Department County Reports (sic) and also refers to "Respect for Human Rights."

**It's actually The Economist trying to measure the ultimately unmeasurable. The folks at The Onion would have more sense.

Edited several times as author cannot write, spell, or proofread because he is from the US. He also added a few items that he thought was relevant.

Kidnapping the only safe option two internationally-wanted kidnappers say

We've heard and read of the claims by certain folk in the government and elsewhere who have said that most Japanese child abductors fleeing back to Japan do so because of abusive spouses.

Up until now, we've had to take their word for it that such a danger exists. The Japan Times---which recently raised its single issue price to ¥180 for folks with no access to the Internet or perhaps no sense---has given us an example of hard-nosed investigative journalism at its best. Custody or Abduction: Returning to Japan with kids was the only safe option, two mothers say.

As we read through the article, we are given reasons by two ladies of why they chose to kidnap their children. Both had suffered domestic violence, both verbal and physical, and one had also received an alimony award that was so small that, "I realized that my son and I could starve to death if we stayed."

I suppose we'll just have to take the word of the two that this happened as they said. No mention of restraining orders, court actions, complaints filed, or much of anything else in the story. We have to admit that it is not unknown for foreign spouses to be ignorant of the legal system in foreign countries or that they are often not able to fully exploit it to protect themselves and their children. However, we won't learn if that is the case from reading the JT article for no relevant questions were asked. Actually, I don't think any questions were asked.

Hats off to you, Masami Ito for this report. We await your interviews of more than just two of many, many internationally-wanted felons and your follow-up with the hard-hitting questions that you left out this time just to keep us all in suspense. Otherwise, we may ask ourselves why anyone would pay ¥180 for the JT when we can read it for free online. Custody or abduction? WTF does that mean?

Bird Day Tokyo

Thanksgiving Day*. The cold frosty nights of late autumn. The leaves long gone from the trees; their remains now carpeting the earth. The men (and some women) up way before dawn, most hoping for a few inches of snow before heading out to the woods, often a trip of a few hundred yards. The women (and some men) up early to start the multi-hour job of preparing dinner. Some men and women up only a little later due to the excitement of watching men in heavily padded gear---many multi-millionaires or destined to be multi-millionaires---chase a funny looking ball up and down a sometimes snow-covered field while knocking each other silly.

No matter which these fortunate folks choose to do, there's always the anticipation of dinner and talking with relatives who have come in just for the holidays to make the dinner a festive affair. Or, perhaps there are a certain few who eagerly anticipate eating the dinner then escaping some of the more annoying relatives who are making the dinner a noisy, uncomfortable affair. It is very cold in the woods at night in late November.

It's been years since I've been back for that holiday. I always dread the near 24 hour trip involving planes, but no trains, automobiles, Greyhound buses, and the kind folks at US Customs and Immigration who make citizens feel like criminals and terrorists just for stepping out of the country. And that was before 9/11. I can only imagine what it is like for "guests." Maybe next year Barack will finally get to his promise to end the excesses of the previous administration.

But in Tokyo, I always take Bird Day off. It's slightly different than back home, which, I suppose, is not surprising since I am in the world's most unique country---the only one with four seasons to boot.

The, umm, less warm nights of late autumn. The crisp? 18 degree centigrade, 64 Fahrenheit days. The last of the leaves beginning to turn and those which have fallen quickly swept up less they inconvenience the ultra-advanced nature loving Japan of the future. The men and women up before dawn to crowd themselves into subway cars ultra-packed to nearly 200% of capacity. (Is that possible? What does capacity mean?) Me not heading for "woods" any more distant than Tamagawadaikoen while finding it impossible to imagine a few inches of snow falling before late December, if it falls at all.

Instead, after having bought a 9-10 lb ¥3200 turkey and finally having secured some cranberries after a long search and at a price higher than the current price of gold (Japanese cranberries so I am sure they are of higher quality, tastier, less sweet, safer, and well-worth the gouge), pumpkin pie filling, instant mashed potatoes (I hate mashing potatoes) the fruits, the nuts, and all the other traditional Thanksgiving food I can find, I am the one preparing the dinner while my wife watches Beat Takeshi clips on youtube and keeps asking when dinner is going to be ready, a question that I am never able to answer. Those Internet turkey cookin' instructions are a bit vague about turkey cookin' times.

I suppose I should write some sort of touchy-feely stuff about what we have to be thankful for, but I ain't the type who can do that. Luck is here today, but it can be all gone by tomorrow. Maybe I should be thankful that it isn't that tomorrow yet.

For tomorrow might be a problem:

Hatoyama's fundraising scandal. I have to wonder about the quality of Japanese politicians. They pass campaign finance laws, but unlike US politicians, they don't seem to be smart enough to find legal loopholes that allow them to continue to freely inhale tons of money while avoiding violating the laws they passed.

Barack Obama: Bowed, rather clumsily, to the Emperor of Japan. While this may not seem to be a problem in 2009, it was and still is in the news in the US. Apparently, Obama has now forever ruined the US position in the world. Ask Dick Cheney. He has some expertise on damaging the US position in the world.

Sarah Palin: OK, she's suffered a lot of cheap shots from the media in the US.* (Just what is wrong with the fact that she has hunted moose? Why is that so funny to apparently morally-superior folks who pay others to kill and butcher captive, helpless, hormone-filled, artificially-fattened animals so that they can eat it without getting their dainty little fingers bloody or truly realizing that it was once a living, breathing animal?) The problem is that some in what used to be the Republican party consider her a serious contender for the next election.

Deflation is back, if it ever left which I don't really believe it did. It's hard to imagine the Japanese economy recovering for quite a while. I'll confidently guess it'll be years. Not only is this bad news for everyone in Japan trying to make a living, it is very worrying that a poor economy---combined with confidence-draining political scandals---makes it more possible that the LDP will be able to slime itself back into power before the DPJ gets a chance to make permanent, meaningful changes.

Japan and the signing of the Hague child abduction treaty. As Colin P. A. Jones recently wrote in the Japan Times (here and here) that due to cultural reasons---real reasons, not the standard "Japanese snow is different" type idiocy---the signing of the treaty will likely not resolve the problem of Japan being a haven for international child abductors. Of course there is the standard bigoted rational exposed by the standard bigots in power that innocent Japanese must be protected from evil foreigners, in this case "abusive" non-Japanese spouses, but this goes a little deeper. Methinks if Japan signs the treaty, that as Mr. Jones wrote, it will not do a lot for resolving the basic problem of Japanese parents---usually the mother---violating court orders and become a felon by fleeing to Japan with no recourse for the non-Japanese parent. It would not be a first for the government to sign a treaty and then violate the spirit of the treaty while being in technical compliance. One case that quickly comes to mind was just after BSE was discovered in Japanese beef and Japanese beef sales plummeted in comparison to imported beef, Japan used a clause in a trade agreement which allowed a country to take action to protect an industry threatened by a surge in imports. The problem was that most of the gap was due to the drop in sales of Japanese beef, rather than a surge in imported beef. Other governments complained about Japan violating the spirit of the law, but Japan accurately claimed that it was following the technicalities of the agreement.*** If this happens with the child abduction treaty, the fact that Japan signs it may do no more than to allow the government to show technical compliance while allowing the problem to continue.

Uh-oh. Seems more like a No Thanks Day post that has gone on too long, and I have only just begun.

* It was actually yesterday, the 26th

**Need I mention that I am not a Palin fan and don't think she is presidential material? Much of the criticism directed at her is deserved. Much isn't.

***This is from memory. I cannot recall any more than the general outline, nor have I been able to find the information on Google.

Child abductions to Japan needed to escape spouse abusing gaijin.

Japan continues to be under pressure from unsympathetic foreign countries about its policy of allowing a parent to abduct his/her child from a custodial parent overseas then flee to Japan with zero risk of extradition or any effective legal recourse from the custodial parent. There are estimated to be at least 175 such cases involving children from the US, Canada, Britain, and France. One might reasonably guess that there are many more from smaller, less powerful countries.

The Asahi published an article (English) about this problem about a week ago, although curiously attempting to show how Japan's refusal to sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction may have prevented a Japanese mother whose children was abducted to Britain by the British father from getting custody of her children back until after divorce mediation.

Oookkkkk. Since I assume the article was originally in Japanese (why bother to check since it'll disappear in a day or two at Asahi) they gotta write it to relate to folks here. Glad that she at least got the children back.

But then, to show that the "liberal" newspaper has balance, it reported the other side of the story---that signing this treaty could have very negative effects on kidnapped children and their international fugitive parent:

Another self-employed woman, 51, was cautious, however. She had long been a victim of domestic violence by her American husband.

The family moved from the United States to Chiba Prefecture in 1992, and she fled with two children to Tokyo in 1995.

She is now on an international wanted list on suspicion of abduction because the husband, saying the mother and children's legal abode is in the United States,* brought the matter before U.S. authorities.

The woman, who says "all I could do was flee," thinks the treaty would make such escape difficult. Asahi Shimbun

Yes, of course. There is nothing she could have done about (alleged) domestic abuse in the US. Or maybe as an immigrant she didn't know what could have been done.

Lawyer Kensuke Ohnuki, who handles about 200 divorces among international matches a year, says most child "abductions" by Japanese women are a result of spousal violence. (Same article)

Excellent reporting here. Just take the lawyer's word for it. I think we can understand who the real victims are---the Japanese spouses.

I wonder, had the man who kidnapped the children to Britain been abused by his Japanese wife?

*What an unreasonable move to claim that his children, who if born in the US were citizens, had a legal abode there! (Corrected 1026 am: This is confusing: Did the abuse occur in the US, Japan, or both? It is surprising to me that the US got involved since the abduction occurred while all were living in Japan.)

More of the same: Child abductions and Japan

Hillman dropped [his son] Sean off that evening at the home of his ex-wife, Mayumi Ogawa...

....Thirty-six weeks have passed since Hillman last saw his son and, despite court orders and felony charges filed this month against Ogawa, he's unsure if he ever will see him again...

...Hillman received a threatening e-mail from a Japanese attorney retained by Ogawa, claiming he'd face stalking charges if he attempted to contact his son...

The excuse by the robot at the Japanese Embassy:

"Japanese courts always take into consideration what the best interest of a child is with respect to each individual case..." Seattle P.I.

And, it seems, the best interest of the child is always to remain with the Japanese parent (who often become fugitives wanted by Interpol) who kidnapped him or her.

Note that Interpol's Japan page states that in Japan: "Parental abduction or a kidnapping by unknown persons in both cases are considered as kidnapping."

Oh, it's just all so confusing. Could it be that kidnapping your child from a foreign country is not considered kidnapping in Japan? Must not be as the father stated in the article that "No child has been legally or diplomatically returned to the US from Japan."

More from Interpol Japan page: No case has been known to Japanese police in which a child reported missing in Japan was taken away abroad, and so Japanese Police has not requested for the publication of a "Yellow Notice"* for a missing child until now.

However, it is necessary for Japanese Police to have a system in place which can be effectively used for the publication of, and reference to, 'Yellow Notices" in case incidents requiring such actions should happen in the future.

Does this mean Japan would change its tune were a child to be abducted by a parent in Japan and taken to a foreign country? Nah, that would be hypocritical.

*Yellow Notice: To help locate missing persons, often minors, or to help identify persons who are unable to identify themselves. (Interpol)