We will not be satisfied until all those children are home where they belong.

Best of luck, Ms. Jacobs. It'll be an uphill battle, but a fight worth fighting.

what about children taken to america without the japanese parent's consent? its forum shopping on both sides. why is it fair that u.s. courts decide and not japanese courts?

why is it fair that u.s. courts decide and not japanese courts?

If the case is in the US, then US court decides. If the case is in Japan, then Japanese court decides.

what about children taken to america without the japanese parent's consent? its forum shopping on both sides. why is it fair that u.s. courts decide and not japanese courts?

YOu do understand that those kids are returned, right?

Japan cries about NK and yet does the exact same thing with kids from other countries.

fds: what about children taken to america without the japanese parent's consent? its forum shopping on both sides. why is it fair that u.s. courts decide and not japanese courts?

lostrune2: If the case is in the US, then US court decides. If the case is in Japan, then Japanese court decides.

You are both wrong. The United States joined and adopted the rules of the Hague Convention in 1988 which agreed that children illegally taken from the country they usually live in must be returned. So, according to the law, there are no children taken to America without the Japanese parents' consent. Japan, however, did not agree to the Hague Convention, and Japan has continued to allow Japanese nationals to illegally abduct children back into Japan, where they can disappear from their non-Japanese parents forever. There were over 200 such cases. However, Japan finally agreed to join the Hague Convention's standards last year, and those laws will go into effect in Japan in April of 2014.

How about the mothers who returned to Japan to escape abusive marriages? Or don't they exist? Yes, I agree there are some who just cut and run, but there are others who are isolated or abused.

Wish her luck, but short of US authorities looking to extradite these parental kidnappers, recover the kids, and putting a whole lot of pressure on Tokyo, I wouldn't hold my breath. Furthermore, although she might be a special adviser to the State Department, how long will she be in the job? Any change of administration in Washington is likely to see this woman removed or resign with the changing of the guard. Although it irks me to say it, the average person would probably have a better chance of winning the lottery than recovering their child from a Japanese national who happens to be a parental kidnapper and a fugitive from US justice.

Again, action on this requires in-your-face diplomacy from Washington rather than going through polite channels.

How about the mothers who returned to Japan to escape abusive marriages? Or don't they exist? Yes, I agree there are some who just cut and run, but there are others who are isolated or abused.

Oh give me a break. Did anyone make this suggestion? This old and tired excuse gets trotted out every time someone dares state that Japan is wrong for keeping these kidnapped kids. No one is saying abuse doesn't happen but this cry wolf excuse is pathetic and overplayed.

Plenty of these kids are abused by their mothers - being ripped away from the life they know, a father, friends, family and taken to a country they may know little about. Yep, parenting of the year.

Good one Maria - the "abused spouse" argument has been used ad nauseum over the years by NHK and the other broadcasters in Japan as an excuse for not signing the convention. Moreover, while protecting the identity of these parental kidnappers, the media here has been guilty of interviewing them without giving the non-Japanese spouse the right of rebuttal. Moreover, some of the coverage until recently as bordered on defamatory vis-a-vis the innocent foreign party. Anyway, I really hope countries like the United States take the bit between their teeth on this and start calling for both repatriation of children and the extradition of the offenders.

I have trouble with Ms. Jacobs' comment, "where they belong". How does she know where they belong?

And while I like the idea of the Hague Convention, I think it's tough, in fact specious, to paint every failed international marriage and the resultant one-parent isolation of children with the same brush. I'd certainly hate to be the judge that had to rule in such cases because each parent would have a story that only got more vitriolic, over the years. And on top of that, after being back in Japan for years, what would make children want to return to the other parent? Don't their wishes count?

I remember being given that choice by a divorce judge, when I was six years old. Tough, tough issue, especially for the child.

Trevor, the courts don't have to get involved IF the parents can be mature and put their issues aside for the sake of the kids. However, let's be honest here. In Japan kids are seen as goods and usually a mother wants to "own" those goods and hurt the father of the child by not allowing him to see his kids. Japanese fathers, while it pains them, are known to just give up and walk away - mostly because they know that with their working hours, they can't win custody. That's what is usually done here. It's not, obviously, what is done for most western parents, hence the kidnapping beause mommy (because it usually is - only heard a few cases of it being a J dad) can't deal with the idea that dad may still be in the picture after the end of her marriage. She doesn't want to share.

The older I get, the more thankful I am my parents weren't selfish idiots and did what was best for my sister and I. Lived with mom, talked to dad every week when he wasn't living in the same area and two visits a year - including when he lived abroad. That's how is should be. Until Japan changes their domestic laws with regards to custody, kids are going to be fought over like they are livestock. It's wrong and damaging to the kids.

It is nice to say, but let's see the US do something about getting their junior citizens back.

The non existing dual custody issue in Japan just has no logic to it. Its more about these abductors showing their true colours of being dirty and cold. I mean why would these people deny the other parent the right to spend time with their child? Especially if they are a wonderful parent. Seems to be more about ownership than love. Japans a messed up place.

The courts decide via "one-size-fits-all" rules.

That is no way to determine the happiness and future of children.

Some children "should" be returned, but how is that going to happen? Elian Gonzalez style?

Some things are better left alone. Some things are more worthy of softer action than packing kids up and shippping them out of the country.

I would rather see guaranteed visitation rights than repatriation orders. At the time custody was determined, the country of habitual residence might have been elsewhere. But that might have been several years ago, and even if against the courts, their country of habitual residence is Japan now. Wishful thinking won't change that.

If abduction by a parent is so bad, don't subject a child to it the second time, this time by the authorities.