Social Issues May 11, 2013

U.S. tells Japan to address child abductions but balks at sanctions

The U.S. State Department called Thursday for Japan to take action on child abductions but rejected lawmakers’ calls to pose the threat of sanctions to force action on one of the allies’ few open disputes. Hundreds of non-Japanese parents, mostly men from the United ...

National Apr 5, 2013

Diet opens debate on Hague Convention bills

by Ayako Mie

Amid mounting international pressure on Japan to rectify cross-border parental abductions of offspring, the House of Representatives on Thursday started deliberating bills related to joining the Hague Convention. Signing the accord was one of the pledges Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made to U.S. President ...

Editorial Mar 12, 2013

Preparing for the Hague Convention

Once Japan joins the Hague Convention, the government must ensure the treaty functions properly to uphold the best interests of the children involved.

Politics & Diplomacy Feb 7, 2013

Diet to get Hague treaty bills in March

The government plans to resubmit in mid-March a set of bills to the Diet necessary for Japan to join the international treaty on settling cross-border child custody disputes.

National Jan 20, 2013

Japan to join child abduction treaty

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida announced the government will sign the Hague Convention on cross-border parental child abductions, addressing one of the few sources of tension in Tokyo’s ties with Washington. Japan has yet to ratify the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of ...