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Spouse and Child Abuse in Japan

If you have any problems of Domestic Violence in your family, you should contact one of the groups listed in the Resources section below.  Don't hesitate!  Have the courage to call to protect yourself, and your lovely son or daughter!  After that, read thru this website to see how to protect your access to your child.

In accordance with the 2001 Law for Prevention of Child Abuse, if you have witnessed or suspect child abuse in Japan, you can call 03-5370-2990 (+81-3-5370-2990 outside Japan) to report it.  Unfortunately, it is unclear what good this will do.  According to a poster in a forum on JapanToday in Dec 2006.

"I've reported a child for suspected abuse here in Japan. I sat down and had a meeting with a case officer. Before I could open my mouth she began apologizing to me that Japan is decades behind the U.S. when it comes to child abuse. I then told her my information, which she wrote down and asked questions when needed. She then told me the process that would take place, which is shocking. She said, the teachers of the children would be notified and if THEY noticed anything out of the ordinary then they would re-contact the case officer. The case officer would then go to the parents and talk with them about the suspected abuse. The case officer would also ask to interview the children and the parents. If the parents DECLINED the interview then the abuse investigation would stop. She then apologized again and said in Japan the children aren't protected from their own families. As the whole procedure is confidential there is no way for me to know what took place in my case."

This was posted on another mailing list, probably sometime in early 2006 or before.

"As an aside, did you know that when a wife call the police because her husband is beating her that when the cops arrive if the husband tells them to get out they must comply. It happened to friend of mine (who has since fled) they said that because he said so they must leave but she could come to the station with them. She asked the police to wait while she got her key and purse and they refused. Wonder what would have happened if the husband had then choked the wife and 2 month old baby she was holding.........nothing probably. Seeing that no one would have known. These police didn't even follow up on her the next day when the ass would have been at work. Seems they need some training above and beyond giving directions."

If anyone can confirm or deny either of these observations, please let us know.

The Issues

Of course, child abuse is a horrible violation of a child's rights.  Although it is not specifically the type of rights that this website addresses, there are many connections.

Solutions We Want To See

  • Amend immigration laws so that a foreign parent of a Japanese child can qualify for a residency visa, either long term or permanent residency, without the letter of guarantee currently required for the granting of such visas.  This should apply towards a spouse visa, a non-custodial parent of a Japanese child visa, or permanent residency for any parent of a Japanese child.
  • Amend immigration laws so that a non-married or non-custodial foreign parent of a Japanese child qualifies for a long-term residency visa permitting employment. In particular, sustaining the non-Japanese parent and living in the same country as his or her Japanese child should be an acceptable reason to grant a long term residency visa, even if that parent is not the custodial parent.
  • Amend immigration laws so that a non-married or non-custodial foreign parent of a Japanese child qualifies for permanent residency under the same accelerated time frame and favorable conditions as the spouse of a Japanese citizen.
  • Barring documented national security concerns, immigration regulations should explicitly permit a non-custodial parent to enter Japan to get a visa to attend court proceedings regarding his or her child.
  • Barring documented national security concerns, immigration regulations should explicitly permit a non-custodial parent to enter Japan to get a visa to visit his or her child several times per year.

Documented Cases

Essays

  • Summary of various legal ages in Japan.
  • The following information appeared in the Living section of the Asahi Shimbun (morning edition) on May 7, 2004. (Seikatsu column 朝日新聞5月7日朝刊『生活』欄)
    • CCW;Consultant for Foreign Nationality Women (Yokohama) : 045-914-7008
    • 女のスペース・おん (Hokkaido): 011-622-7240
    • 女性の家　HELP (Tokyo): 03-3368-8855
    • カパティラン (Tokyo): 03-3432-3055
    • カラカサン (Kawasaki): 044-580-4675
    • かけこみ女性センター　あいち(Aichi): 052-853-4479
    • アジア女 性センター (Fukuoka): 092-513-7333
  • The United States Country Report on Human Rights for Japan reports the following on child abuse in Japan, based on Japanese Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare statistics, showing that child abuse seems to be getting worse since the Child Abuse Prevention Law was enacted in 2000.
    • From 2000, when the Child Abuse Prevention Law was enacted, through June 2003, 127 children died as a result of child abuse. [That's about 32 per year.] In 2004, 51 children died after being abused, according to the NPA.  In 2003 there were 23,738 cases of child abuse, according to the Cabinet Office. In 2004 there were a record 26,569 cases, according to MHLW. Approximately 50 percent of the cases involved violence, and 40 percent were cases of parental neglect. Child welfare centers reported a record 26,573 calls in 2003, an increase of 2,800 calls from the previous year.
  • The United States Country Report on Human Rights for Japan reports the following on spouse abuse in Japan, based on Japanese Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare statistics.  Comparing the information from the 2005 report (2004 data) and the 2004 report (2003 data) shows that since the Law for the Prevention of Spousal Violence and the Protection of Victims was revised in May 2004, cases of alleged spousal abuse rose 13.5 percent.
    • 2004 report (cached copy). Violence against women, particularly domestic violence, often went unreported due to social and cultural concerns about shaming one's family or endangering the reputation of one's spouse or children. Consequently, NPA statistics on violence against women probably understated the magnitude of the problem. According to NPA statistics, there were 12,568 cases of alleged domestic violence and 1,499 restraining orders issued in 2003. Police took action in 41 cases in which court orders were violated. Between April and September, the 120 prefectural consultation centers received 24,818 cases of domestic violence consultations. Of the total 103,986 consultations since fiscal 2002, 99.6 percent were for women....The revision to the Law for the Prevention of Spousal Violence and the Protection of Victims passed in May expanded the definition of spousal violence to include mental, sexual, and physical abuse and increased the length of restraining orders from 2 weeks to 2 months.
    • 2005 report (cached copy).  Domestic violence often went unreported due to social and cultural concerns about shaming one's family or endangering the reputation of one's spouse or children. Consequently, NPA statistics on violence against women most likely understated the magnitude of the problem. According to the Cabinet Office, 42 percent of women abused by their spouses did not report it. Spousal violence consultation assistance centers nationwide received 49,329 consultations in 2004, of which 49,107 were from women. According to NPA statistics, there were 14,264 cases of alleged domestic violence in 2004. Police were quick to respond to cases when reported. They taught victims how to protect themselves and educated them on how to file restraining orders. In 2004 courts issued 4,436 restraining orders in a total of 5,505 cases filed.
  • See this petition that will soon be put out to support legal changes to prevent spouse and child abuse.  It has a concise explanation of the connections.
  • The Lawyer's Law and the Prevention of Child Abuse Law - a useful combination? (TBW)

External Resources

Also see the pages on Lawyers and Legal Organizations In Japan, Human Rights Organizations in Japan and Women's and Men's Groups In Japan for further information.

Media Coverage of Child Abuse in Japan

These articles are intended to illustrate child abuse occurring in Japan with two purposes in mind.  First, we want to correct the perception that Japan has less child abuse than other countries, or perhaps less severe abuse.  Therefore we are willing to cover any reported incident of child abuse, child murder, etc, by a Japanese parent or relative.  We also hope to illustrate that child abuse is more likely to occur in one of the following situations:

  • When one natural parent appears to not be part of the abused child's life.
  • When one natural parent appears to have not been having frequent and meaningful contact with the child.
  • When the abuser/murderer is not the natural parent.
  • When a foreign parent is under visa related pressure.

Related Pages

Bullying and Racism in Japan

Child Prostitution and Pornography in Japan

Child Abuse Articles from 2007 and earlier

(EJ) means the article is available in both English and Japanese.

2008

2007 and earlier

Child Abuse Articles from 2007

Child Abuse Articles from 2006

Media Coverage of Child Abduction within Family & Other Family-related Problems

2008

2007 and earlier

Child Abduction within Family, Other Media Coverage from 2007

Child Abduction within Family, Other Media Coverage from 2006

Media Coverage of Spouse Abuse

Neglected Teeth Indicator of Child Abuse

Personal Stories

Just as we document denial of access to children, we will document personal experiences of child and spouse abuse.  Actually I would like NOT to [have to] do this, but it appears necessary in order to show that the problem is much bigger than Japanese authorities let on and than the Japanese press reports. I expect most if not all of these would be anonymous. If anyone has any information or stories or other info they would like to contribute, please contact the webmaster of this site.

  • TBD

Other Information

From the interpol version of the child abuse law referenced above comes these other laws:

III.Other forms of child sex abuse

he Child Abuse Prevention Law and the Anti-Stalker Law were enacted. In 2001

'Indecency through compulsion', Art. 176 Penal Code

'A person who, through violence or intimidation, commits an indecent act upon a male or female person of not less than thirteen (13) years of age shall be punished with imprisonment at forced labour for not less than six months nor more than seven years. The same shall apply to a person who commits an indecent act upon a male or female person under thirteen (13) years of age.'

Common articles to rape and indecency

'Constructive compulsory indecency and rape', Art. 178 Penal Code

'A person who commits an indecent act upon or has sexual intercourse with another by taking advantage of loss of consciousness or inability to resist, or by causing a loss of consciousness or inability to resist, shall be punished in the same way as provided for in the preceding two Articles.'

'Attempts', Art. 179 Penal Code

'Attempts of the crimes provided in the preceding three Articles shall be punished.'

'Complaint', Art. 180 Penal Code

'(1) The crimes provided in the preceding four Articles shall be prosecuted only on complaint.
(2)The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not apply when the crimes mentioned in the preceding four Articles are committed jointly by two or more persons who are on the scene of the action.'

Article 12 of the Yamanashi Prefecture Ordinance concerning cleanup of neighborhood moral environment for the protection and caring of minors 'Any person shall not have indecent sexual activities or obscene conduct with minors.

'A person should not give instructions in or show activities given above to minors.'

Article 13 of the Yamanashi Prefecture Ordinance

'Any person shall not offer or make arrangements for a place knowing that assaults, indecent sexual activities, obscene acts or gambling targeting involving minors will take place in the place,…'

Article 34 of the Child Welfare Law

'Any person shall not do any of the following acts:

1) Making a public show of deformed or crippled children;

2) Forcing children to beg or to utilise a child while begging;

3) Forcing or inducing child under 15 years of age to perform acrobatic feats and circus riding for public entertainment;

4) Inducing children under 15 years of age to sign, play or perform from house to house, on the streets, or in similar places as business;

4)- 2 Inducing children to engage in selling, distributing, exhibiting or collecting any article, or to provide services from house to house, on the streets, or in similar places as business during the hours from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.;

4)-3 Inducing children under 15 years of age to engage in selling distributing, exhibiting or collecting any articles, or to provide any services from house to house, on the streets or in similar places, or to enter, for the purpose of conducting such business, any establishments where such business as listed in Article 1 of the Control Law for Business Related to the Public Morals are practised.

5) Inducing children under 15 years of age to engage in occupation which require them to wait at banquets or dinners where liquor is served;

6) Inducing children to practice obscene acts;

7) Acts transferring custody of a child to a person who is liable to practice any of the acts described in the preceding items, or who is liable to violate any of the penal laws and regulations concerning children, knowing such fact, or acts transferring custody of such a child to any other person, knowing that the child will be handed over to others for such purposes;

8) Offering services for the upbringing of children for the purpose of profit to be gained of such action by persons other than legally authorised employment agencies for both adult and children;

9) Keeping a child under one's control for purposes harmful to the child both in mind and body, except in cases where the child is within the relative in the fourth degree, or in cases where the control over a child is based on legal employment relations or has been authorized by a family court, the governor of prefecture or the superintendent of a Child Guidance Center.

2. Children placed in home for dependant, neglected and abused children, a home fro mentally retarded children, a mentally retarded children's day- care center, a home for blind, deaf and dumb children, a home for physically weak children, a hospital home for crippled children and a home for training and education of juvenile delinquents shall not be exploited contrary to the stipulations of Articles 41 to 44.'

To Lookup - please send me other recommended article with different viewpoints and I will reference them here.

Gender Difference in Mentally Ill Offenders: A Nationwide Japanese Study

Liya Xie

Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary, 3500 26th Ave., NE, Calgary, Alberta, T1Y 6J4, Canada

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Vol. 44, No. 6, 714-724 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/0306624X00446007

The entire population of 2,094 mentally ill offenders who were adjudicated as partially or fully not criminally responsible on account of mental disorders during the years of 1980 and 1994 throughout Japan were studied. Men were predominant. More than 60% of the participants had previously received psychiatric treatment. Schizophrenia and other psychoses were the most common diagnoses among both males and females. Females were more likely to be charged with violent crimes, and half of them committed homicide. Females attacked family members more often, and they were diagnosed with depression more often than were males. In contrast, males were more often charged with nonviolent crimes and had a greater number of criminal records. Despite the fact that persons diagnosed solely with personality disorders were largely excluded from the study, male mentally ill offenders still shared more negative demographic factors with male criminals in general, such as being unmarried, having a lower educational level, a poorer employment history, chaotic lives, and substance abuse problems.

How much of the child murder in Japan is caused by mentally disordered mothers?
L Xie, A Yamagami - International Medical Journal, 1995


The information on this website concerns a matter of public interest, and is provided for educational and informational purposes only in order to raise public awareness of issues concerning left-behind parents. Unless otherwise indicated, the writers and translators of this website are not lawyers nor professional translators, so be sure to confirm anything important with your own lawyer.
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