Posts
Jeremy D. Morley
In Japan, if the parent who does not have
physical possession of a child is allowed to have visitation with the child it
will generally be limited to a few hours a month and be strictly supervised –
usually in the courthouse, a police station or a lawyer’s office – if there is
even slight acrimony between the parents. Family court orders concerning
visitation are essentially unenforceable.
Court-ordered international visitation is
entirely unprecedented and to my knowledge has never been ordered by any
Japanese court, although I have worked on many cases in which a non-Japanese
parent has requested it.
The Japanese press is now reporting that a group
of legislators in Japan is preparing to submit a bill to the Diet “to ensure
that children can continue seeing both parents in the event of their divorce.”
The leader of the “Parents and Children’s
Network” has welcomed the proposal but has suggested that the prospective
legislation “should stipulate standards for visitations so children can
promptly receive the love of both parents” after divorce.
However, the notion that children should visit
the non-custodial parent (usually the father) is quite controversial in Japan. The
proposed legislation will surely face strenuous opposition.
Indeed, a women’s rights group leader
immediately opposed the idea of visitation, claiming that, “If the bill makes
it a prescribed course for children to see (the parent who does not have
custody), it will hamper the recovery from damage caused to their bodies and
minds, and risk their safety.” She reportedly stated further that, “Even if
children were not directly victimized by physical violence, they can suffer
indirectly by seeing the violence one parent has used on the other, and hearing
verbal abuse.”
While a law might perhaps be enacted, whether it
will actually be meaningful and enforceable is a totally different issue.
(Likewise, Japan’s belated adoption of the Hague Abduction Convention was
extremely controversial and was implemented only by means of an implementing
law that has major loopholes and tremendous enforcement challenges).
In my field of international family law, the situation
is completely unsatisfactory. It means that a non-Japanese parent whose
ex-spouse has the parties’ children in Japan cannot see his children unless the
Japanese parent chooses to permit him to do so. If she does permit it, the
visitation will invariably be no more than occasional, will be strictly supervised
and will occur only in Japan. And for cultural reasons this sad state of
affairs is seen as completely normal, and indeed appropriate, in Japan.
