Japan may use the Hague Service Convention to prevent foreign legal documents from being served on Japanese parental abductors

The Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters ("Hague Service Convention") is an important treaty for authenticating and validating legal activity against a Japanese citizen for violating divorce, custody and visitation related court orders issued by a non-Japanese court.  But we believe that  in some family law cases, Japan is circumventing this treaty in order to protect Japanese citizen parental abductors.  The Japanese Central Authority (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) may refuse to deliver documents under the Hague Service Convention using one of the following methods.

The Japanese Central Authority may claim that errors in an destination address makes delivery impossible, even if the abducting parent is for all practical purposes living there, yet has their official Residency Registration (jyuminhyou) elsewhere.  This may be the case, for example, when the abducting parent is living with the grandparents in order to get help in caring for the child.  If the abducting parent was living overseas, this address is also likely to be the only one known to the left-behind parent.  The Japanese government has access to both Family Registration (koseki) and Residency Registration (jyuminhyou)  records for all citizens, which are required by law to be kept up to date.  So if the Central Authority was making a true attempt to deliver the documents, they could easily find the current address of the recipient.  In some cases, a foreign parent can access these documents also, but only at great cost of time and money.  In other cases, such as when the birth or marriage with the foreign parent was not registered in Japan, the foreign parent is not able to access these documents at all.

It also appears that Japan's Central Authority uses the postal service for delivery.  This allows the Japanese recipient to refuse service of the legal documents simply by refusing to accept a piece of mail.  But Given Japan's objection to paragraphs (b) and (c) of Article 10 of the Hague Service Convention, the only alternative method to deliver legal document is the postal service itself.  Catch-22.

Additionally, there is a documented case where the Metropolitan Police Department, the Tokyo District Court and the Japan Postal Service have conspired to prevent delivery of the foreign legal documents.  According to a note the left behind parent received on the returned legal documents, the Metropolitan police asked a court to issue an injunction against delivery because the sender (a US lawyer representing the left behind parent) was a "dangerous person".

These factors can make the service of foreign judicial documents on an unwilling Japanese recipient impossible.  The Japanese government (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and the Japanese courts are actually using the Hague Service Convention to prevent delivery of international court documents to Japanese parental abductors.

Solutions We Want To See

• When the delivery of legal documents is requested under the Hague Service Convention, the Japanese Central Authority (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) should first attempt to deliver them to the address indicated in the request.  Should this fail, they should check the Residency Registration (jyuminhyou) information for the delivery address and the Family Registration (koseki) for the residents of the indicated address.  If the document recipient is registered there, the Central Authority should deliver the documents to whoever lives there and consider them delivered according to the treaty.  If the document recipient is not registered there, the Central Authority should check the Family Registration (koseki) of  the residents who are registered there to see if they are related to the document recipient.  In this case, information in the Residency Registration and Family Registration government databases can be followed to find the current registered address of the document recipient.  Japanese law requires that every citizen keep their Residency Registration up to date.  Therefore, the Central Authority should then deliver the documents to whoever lives at this registered address and consider them delivered according to the treaty.
• When the delivery of legal documents is requested under the Hague Service Convention, the Japanese Central Authority (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) should accept a current or past copy of the document recipient's Residency Registration (jyuminhyou) or Family Registration (koseki) instead of a delivery address.  Using information in the Residency Registration and Family Registration government databases, either of these two documents can be used to find the current registered address of the document recipient.  Japanese law requires that every citizen keep their Residency Registration up to date.  Therefore, the Central Authority should then deliver the documents to whoever lives at this registered address and consider them delivered according to the treaty.
• Japanese courts should not be allowed to issue injunctions against delivery of legal documents under the Hague Service Convention.  If the contents are suspected to be capable of causing physical injury to the recipient, the package can be opened and examined prior to delivery.

Evidence

• Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tokyo Metropolitan Police, and a court system gang up to discriminate against a foreign parent.   A US lawyer tried unsuccessfully to serve court documents on the abducting Japanese parent.  According to a note on the returned documents, it could not be delivered because "...the sender is considered to be a dangerous person, the Metropolitan Police Department has intervened and a temporary injunction and refusal of delivery have been issued by a Court...." 
• An example from a domestic lawsuit in Japan that Japanese courts serve documents using the postal service, which can be easily ignored.  This also highlights the fact that it is impossible for a court to find a person's assets if they hide them.

Additional Information

• US State Department Flyer on Service of Process in Japan This outlines the many Japanese government restrictions on types of process service in Japan.  A must read for anyone really interested in this subject, and should apply to other countries also.
• Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters
• How to Serve Process on a Japanese Citizen in Japan for Foreign Court Proceedings