Courts racially discriminate when awarding child custody in Japan

There is a widely held perception that the courts are strongly racially biased in favor of Japanese nationals, regardless of the inappropriateness for custody or danger to the child.

Although the mother gets custody in 80 percent of the disputed child custody cases when both parents are Japanese, when one parent is non-Japanese, we believe that the Japanese usually gets custody, regardless of whether they are a father or a mother.  In cases involving a foreign and Japanese parent, Japanese courts consistently "protect" the rights of the Japanese parent over the rights of the foreign parent.  i.e. Japanese parents always win child custody, regardless of gender.  Statistically, in the case where the foreign parent is a father, it is generally a Caucasian father, but in the case where the foreign parent is a mother, it is typically an Asian mother.  It is almost unheard of for custody to be given to a foreign parent in a contested custody case in Japan.  There are also anecdotal reports of courts ignoring threats of violence from the Japanese parent rather than give custody to the non-Japanese.

Suspiciously, although the Japanese court system reports statistics on gender in custodial decisions and government reports statistics on nationality in marriages and divorces, nationality in custodial decisions strangely eludes the statistical keeping process.

(We believe that this claim is true, but it is tentative and under investigation to try to find and document evidence.  This is particularly difficult since coincidentally, Japanese courts do not seem to release nor keep records on custody outcomes based on nationality.)

TODO: Add info on how this is prohibited under the UN CRC and other treaties. - This problem must be attacked and monitored.

Solutions We Want To See

• The Japanese court system should release statistics on custody determinations when one parent is non-Japanese. 

Articles

• TBD