In the Best Interests of the Court:What American Lawyers Need to Know about Child Custody and Visitation in Japan

International Association for Parent Child Reunion

SIDEBAR

»
S
I
D
E
B
A
R
«

In the Best Interests of the Court:
What American Lawyers Need to
Know about Child Custody
and Visitation in Japan

July 27th, 2010

Colin Jones, law professor at Doshisha University in Kyoto, has written a paper titled “IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE COURT: WHAT AMERICAN LAWYERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHILD CUSTODY AND VISITATION IN JAPAN”. The title speaks for itself. If you are divorced, thinking about getting a divorce, or know someone that is divorced, I highly recommend that they read this long and informative paper about the Family Courts in Japan.

Thus, while my description of the Japanese system in the context of child custody and visitation may seem to portray it as illogical, it is not. It functions adequately in protecting the interests of the judicial system and its actors. Of course, protecting the interests of children is also a goal of the family court, but in the context of divorce, there is no way for an outsider to separate the best interests of the child from that of the court. Tellingly, when child custody enforcement problems are debated, the focus is often not on the tragic impact it has on parents and children, but on its effect on the people’s trust in the legal system.

Professor Jones discusses judges, mediators, investigators, custody (shinken & kangoken), visitation rights, and more.

You can read the full 104 page pdf report here.

Share and Enjoy:

3 Responses

TcS writes:
July 28th, 20104:27 amat

Required reading for everyone involved and those we would like to inform. Very good post. Thank you!
andii writes:
August 3rd, 201010:12 pmat

What will my comment do for my children who I have not seen in five years nothing I think but one thing I want to do is declare war on the Japanese government all out war
TcS writes:
August 5th, 201012:11 pmat

A comment won’t do very much of course. We can do almost nothing separately. You can join us in the fight for change. We have seen are cries fall on deaf ears, to because we have greater numbers becoming organized, regular meetings with the US embassy, the US ambassador, and US assistant secretary of State. We’re working on meetings with MOFA and MUJ. It’s tiring. We can use more help.

Highlighted Events