After years of foreign pressure, Japan finally decided Friday to sign a treaty to settle cross-border child custody disputes, but a heated debate is expected to continue as proponents of the pact hope the move leads to the formation of a system that will guarantee children's access to both parents after a divorce.
Japan has long been labeled a "haven for parental abductions" and a "black hole" for children removed internationally, by foreign parents unable to see their children because they have been taken to Japan by their former Japanese spouses.
In Japan, the tendency is for the courts to award mothers sole custody of any children after divorce.