Tag - family-law

 
 

FAMILY LAW

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Apr 29, 2024
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree
Among official records in Japan, the "koseki" is key to discovering where you came from. However, it's not without controversy.
A bill on joint custody passes during a Lower House plenary session in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 16, 2024
Bill allowing joint custody after divorce clears Japan's Lower House
The move would bring Japan closer to adopting a practice seen in other countries.
Ai Fukuhara at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on Friday
JAPAN / Society
Mar 15, 2024
Ai Fukuhara reaches custody settlement after abduction accusation
Although the physical custody of their son as well as their daughter will be with her ex-husband, the couple will continue to have joint custody over them.
A Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday
JAPAN / Society
Mar 8, 2024
Government OKs bill to introduce joint custody after divorce
The bill would permit either sole custody or joint custody. A family court will intervene if there is a dispute.
Under a proposed joint custody system, if parents cannot reach an agreement, a family court would make a decision based on the interests of the child and family relations.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2024
Government panel proposes allowing joint child custody
Based on the report from the Legislative Council, the government plans to submit a related bill during the ongoing ordinary session of parliament.
Japan is the only country with a law requiring married couples to adopt the same surname. In 95% of cases, it is women who take their husband's name.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 7, 2024
The land where single surnames are the only option
The business lobby recently joined calls for Japan to accept separate surnames after marriage. What, then, is standing in the way of change? Politics.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 17, 2022
Campaigners say U.K. 'forced adoption' scandal far from over
A parliamentary committee has said some 185,000 children were taken away for adoption between 1949 and 1976 in England and Wales, and urged an official apology.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2021
A hunger strike reignites conversations about parental rights in Japan
Detractors of the country's system of sole parental authority say it promotes child 'abductions,' while supporters say change could exacerbate domestic abuse.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2021
EU envoys back Frenchman on hunger strike over Japan child custody
Japan, unlike most countries, does not recognize joint custody and children often lose contact with the noncustodial parent.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2021
Children stateless in Japan due to gaps in knowledge about process, survey finds
With a surge in the number of foreign students and workers in Japan, the number of stateless children has been on the rise in recent years.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2021
Tokyo's Adachi Ward responds to controversy by certifying LGBT families
The initiative in the ward is rare in a nation that does not legally recognize marriage between members of the LGBT community.
Japan Times
JAPAN / FOCUS
Nov 22, 2020
Suga’s remark sparks hope for letting married couples use different surnames
When Suga was asked about his past call for creating the option, he said, 'As a politician, I bear a responsibility as I have said such things.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 17, 2020
In Japan, foreign parents lead charge against loss of child custody
A growing number of foreign nationals in Japan are speaking out against what they say is a little-known but entrenched system that allows one parent in a broken relationship to take away children and block the other from visiting them.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 15, 2020
Australian father gets suspended term for trespassing at in-law's Tokyo home
A Tokyo-based Australian journalist and father was given a suspended prison term of six months by the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday for illegally trespassing into a building complex where his in-laws live in Tokyo's Suginami Ward in October, in what the journalist said was an attempt to check on his children after a powerful typhoon.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2019
Opposition parties submit bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Japan
Major opposition parties have submitted a bill that would permit same-sex marriage, a move that comes weeks after Taiwan became the first place in Asia to legalize gay marriage.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 20, 2019
Japan's Supreme Court rejects man's damages claim against ex-wife's partner over adultery
The Supreme Court Tuesday rejected a damages claim brought by a man in his 40s against his former spouse's then-lover, infidelity with whom led, he claimed, to he and his wife's divorce.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Jun 3, 2018
Left-behind dad's last resort: Impeach Japan's Supreme Court judges
Dogged father in Hague Convention case shines a light on a check-and-balance on the judiciary that barely functions.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Apr 1, 2018
Japan's Supreme Court orders a child be sent home in a Hague parental abduction case. Maybe.
Defanged habeas corpus grew some teeth in last month's Nagoya international custody ruling, but the problem of toothless enforcement remains.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 24, 2018
Can I sue in Japan to get back the money I spent on my former fiancee?
Does a reader who spent $20,000 on his fiancee have legal grounds to sue her now she has called the whole thing off? Well, that depends.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 10, 2018
Newly minted Japanese Supreme Court justice will issue rulings under maiden name, breaking with long tradition
Yuko Miyazaki, newly appointed to the country's top court, says she will issue her legal judgments under her maiden name — Miyazaki — becoming Japan's first woman to abandon the court's long tradition of using one's legal name after marriage.

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces