Child Abduction Issue Explodes

[Christoff]

Nothing will become of this and thank god, you think I want that string of kids of mine form hokaido to fukuoka trying to get some daddy time? hell no.

[Bucky]

[Ganma]

"In my daughter's mind, I didn't exist. It felt as though my entire existence was completely erased," said Kobayashi, her voice shaking.

Welcome to the shithole that is Japan. I hope the international community drills Japan a new asshole on this issue, with all that constipation they sure could use one... for their own sake as well as ours.

[Mike Oxlong]

[Cyka UchuuJin]

[SIZE="5"]Dad who tried to take kids from Japan sues Tennessee judge[/SIZE]

buying the guy a punching bag for his basement would be a lot more productive than this.

he's beginning to look like one of those fame whore dads are jealous of the youtube girls who are famous for being famous (balloon boy dad, jon gosselin, etc), who turns in 'honest hard work' for the 15 minutes of cash.

[james]

he's beginning to look like one of those fame whore dads are jealous

do you have kids?

[Cyka UchuuJin]

do you have kids?

i don't. i have godchildren that i love like my own. of course i can never fully know the desperation that a parent would feel in a situation like this, i just can't see the point in suing judges. would it not be more productive to take the issue to a higher court for?

[nottu]

[Cyka UchuuJin]

Has anyone ever sued a judge in the US and won?

http://etclaims.co.uk/2009/03/can-i-sue-the-judge/

exactly. which i why i question why someone would do that, other than for a futile 15 minutes of fame.

[nottu]

[james]

i don't. i have godchildren that i love like my own. of course i can never fully know the desperation that a parent would feel in a situation like this, i just can't see the point in suing judges. would it not be more productive to take the issue to a higher court for?

sure, i just don't think that the guy's motivation is a need for attention. were i in his situation and was told that if i stfu i'd get my kids back, i'd probably do it.

[Mike Oxlong]

Even if he took his case to a higher court, and was successful in getting a travel restriction put on his ex-wife, how would that help him? The result of the judge fucking up is his wife's successful abduction of the kids to a place he can never reach them...

If he wants some sort of redress or wants to attempt to change the system, he seems to be going in the right direction...

[nottu]

[Mike Oxlong]

He's an idiot.
He will lose.

Could be true. I don't know enough about him or the US legal system to say. On the surface there do seem to be some oddities in the way things were done in his case, and those appear to have led directly to him losing his kids for good. Once Noriko left, that was it. His stunt to go get them back was a real long shot, and he knew that full well - the kids were already gone, and no one would help him get them back. He did succeed in putting this issue more in the public consciousness, and may have a legitimate grievance against the legal system that dropped the ball...

[nottu]

[Mike Oxlong]

This article in The Tennessean sums up the case and provides a bit more context regarding the new lawsuit.

[Mike Oxlong]

Not sure how coincidental the timing of the recent lawsuit is...

Congressmen pressure Japan on custody rights

A group of members of Congress are seeking a resolution they hope will pressure Japan into closing a loophole they say allows American children to be abducted.

Dozens of American fathers say they have been unable to see their children for years because the mothers have fled to Japan with their children.

Japan has refused to sign an international treaty on child abduction and allows only one parent to have custody in cases of divorce.

Rep Jim Moran, a Virginia Democrat, and Rep Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, introduced a resolution on Wednesday calling on Japan to revamp its child custody laws.

The Japanese embassy issued a statement saying it is aware of the issue and its government is considering joining the treaty.

[Greji]

[Bucky]

We don't hear any of the other side (the husband's side) of the story. And no mention is even made of trying to interview the husband to get his version so this is just a "She said" with no "He said".

It was a typical love story for Kyoko Yamaguchi. The couple met in Europe, fell in love, married and later had a son.

But the happy life she had envisioned soon turned sour. First there were the fights and the yelling, and then the cheating and violence. After nearly 10 years of trying desperately to hold on to her marriage, Yamaguchi, not her real name, left her husband.

But that wasn't enough. Physically and mentally worn out from her husband's abusive and stalkerlike behavior, she finally decided to take her son and move back to Japan without her husband's consent.

In Japan, most people would say she is just a mother trying to do what she thought best for her child. But under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, to which Japan is not a member, Yamaguchi's action is considered international parental kidnapping.

From the Japan Times

[Bucky]

[Mulboyne]

I just noticed Christopher Savoie is on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/cjsavoie

[maraboutslim]

Those are two uncomfortable looking kids in his profile picture.

[Bucky]

Here's another one:

King County prosecutors have filed felony charges against a Bellevue mother accused of fleeing to Japan with her 6-year-old son.

According to charging documents, Michiyo Imoto Morehouse, 42, was barred from taking the boy out of the state after a county court awarded primary custody to the boy's father, Morehouse's ex-husband.

Now, prosecutors claim Morehouse has taken the child abroad with no plans to return.

"The defendant has abducted her young child and fled to Japan in violation of a court order prohibiting such conduct," Senior Deputy Prosecutor Daniel J. Clark told the court. "The child's father has not seen or heard from the defendant or their young son since June."

[IparryU]

Here's another one:

yes, getting a felony in the US is nothing like the hand slaps you get in Japan.

Hope she spends some time in prison (jail != prison)

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Does anybody believe Japan will ever sign the Hague treaty ?

I don't like the chances. Many human rights activists in this cuntry advocate against signing the convention because they fear it will cause suffering to Japanese women. Given the proclivity for many Japanese men to dump children they've created with gaijin birds in places like the Philippines, and even with gaijin wives in Japan, I doubt the government sees a pressing need to look after the interests (or "disinterests" as it appears in my eyes...) of Japanese men whose children are taken overseas.
Gaijin (mostly Americans) are making a huge brouhaha over this, and probably rightfully so.
But I get the sneaking inkling that that small numbers involved, the general irrelevancy in terms of overall Japanese voters and growing nationalism that potentially turns this into another whaling issue where the Japanese don't want to be pushed around by whitey make me feel that they will continue to thumb their nose at the convention with impunity.
I think there's a bigger chance of the U.S. joining the International Criminal Court than there is of Japan signing onto the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. It's easy for countries to thumb their noses at the international community if they want to.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I hear you...This cuntry is such a bastion of love and care for families, especially when there are foreigners involved.
It's not just dads, though. I used to work with a foreign woman whose son was stolen and it wrecked her life.
There's a lot of people hurting out there and I think the main issue is the need to resolve the Family Law to permit joint custody, which is an issue that does affect large numbers of Japanese and would probably be the most likely shortcut toward solving this abduction issue. Unfortunately, that would ultimately involve tweaking the Family Registration Law, which is always approached with tremendous breath-sucking, procrastination and ultimately little more than watered-down "reforms," except in cases where bureaucrats gain greater power and changes are implemented almost silently at lightning speed.

[Yokohammer]

Unfortunately, that would ultimately involve tweaking the Family Registration Law, which is always approached with tremendous breath-sucking, procrastination and ultimately little more than watered-down "reforms," except in cases where bureaucrats gain greater power and changes are implemented almost silently at lightning speed.

No kidding. Reminds me of the almost unbelievable speed at which Viagra was approved for use in Japan. Until Viagra came along it usually took years of hemming and hawing to get foreign-devil pharmaceuticals approved. It seemed like Viagra was in almost overnight.* You could almost hear the blue pills ricocheting down the gullets of the ruling class en masse at exclusive ryoutei and ryokan throughout the nation.

Updating the family register law, on the other hand, doesn't have any immediately obvious benefits for the same people, so it's not likely to get done in a hurry.

* I really did try to come up with some innuendo-laden prose for this, but my muse seems to be out for the evening.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

No kidding. Reminds me of the almost unbelievable speed at which Viagra was approved for use in Japan. Until Viagra came along it usually took years of hemming and hawing to get foreign-devil pharmaceuticals approved. It seemed like Viagra was in almost overnight.* You could almost hear the blue pills ricocheting down the gullets of the ruling class en masse at exclusive ryoutei and ryokan throughout the nation.

Hang on, let me backtrack just a little...maybe some of those lightning-fast bureaucratic decisions aren't all bad...

[IparryU]

I don't like the chances. Many human rights activists in this cuntry advocate against signing the convention because they fear it will cause suffering to Japanese women.

The gov officials are probably more scared that they will have to hand over the mother to send them to an American prison... I really cant believe that that point hasnt been expressed.

Not to mention, if one of them J fathers had to go to prison in the phillipines or in thai land... that would be a world of shit.

I doubt the convention will be signed because of this and Japan will end up having to deal with a large community down the road that will end up even more fugged for the japanese.

TIJ

[Mulboyne]

I think there is a much greater chance Japan will become a signatory than when they talked about doing so in 2008. Back then, it was purely lip service and they never even began to look at how they might go about it.

Japan could sign the treaty and still demonstrate what the US State Department calls "patterns of non compliance". They think Switzerland does that because Swiss courts seem to view a Hague hearing as an opportunity to make a custody ruling whereas it is supposed to determine which legal jurisdiction has the right to make that decision.

The three areas the State Department says you need working are:

1. Central authority performance - what action the government takes to support treaty obligations
2. Judicial performance - how the courts deal with Hague obligations
3. Legal enforcement performance - how decisions are put into practice.