面接交渉

If you are currently being denied visitation with your child in Japan, go to the Non-Japanese Law page for your country and look for the essay on "What to do if I am being denied visitation with my child in Japan."

このセクションでは日本人の親との面接交渉に関する問題の解決策について、エッセイや情報を掲載します。 こちらが現在、問題 点 ののページに挙げられている面会交渉に関する問題点です。

問題点

不十分な子供との面接交渉についての法律

日本の民法には面接交渉権についての規定はありません。たとえ裁判所で認められたとしても、せいぜい1ヶ月に2時間程度という非常に制限されたものです。 国連子供の権利条約によると 定期的な面接交渉を保証することは、最重要事項であり、日本もこの条約を1994年5月22日に批准しています。この条約第9条で日本は「子供が別れた片方もしくは両方の親と、個人的な人間関係を築けるよう、定期的に会う権利を尊重する」義務があることを明記しています。

強制力のない子供との面接交渉に関する法律

もし裁判所が、親権もしくは監護権のない親に子供との面接交渉を認めたとしても、月に2時間程度が典型的な例です。しかも、それでさえ監護権者である親が協力的でなければ、警察や裁判所はこの権利を効果的に行使する強制力はありません。面接交渉権を実行する唯一の方法は何度でも裁判所に行くことです。家庭裁判所はその判決を実行する強制力がありません。定期的に子供との面接交渉を実行することを保証するのは、国連子供の権利条約の最重要事項であり、日本は1994年5月22日に批准しています。この条約第９条で義務付けているように、日本は「子供が別れた片方もしくは両方の親と、個人的な人間関係を築けるよう、定期的に会う権利を尊重する」必要があります。

エッセイ

• 面接交渉権について、国連・子供の権利委員会へ提出した日本の報告書
• Visitation Precedents
• Ideas on how to make visitations more reliable

経験者の証言

• 準備中

資料

• Family Problems Information Center (FPIC) 家庭問題情報センター(東京)- 東京池袋、サンシャイン６０にある家庭問題情報センターで、利用した人からもよい評価をされています。問い合わせは日本語で。でも支障があるなら、英語で問い合わせてみて下さい。
• 日本家族再生センター (京都) - 立会人付きの面会交渉を含む、様々な家族援助を提供。\３０００/時間、２時間まで。保育サポートや手紙や電話でのカウンセリングサービスなどもあります。ウェブサイトは日本語のみ。
• Supervised Visitation Network 東京エリアに Service Provider があります。千葉県野田市。 三重大学。(04)7138-1712 。E-メールはこちら： zat03422( AT ) nifty.ne.jp 　このサービスやコンセプトのついて詳しくはわかりませんが、役に立つかもしれません。 ガイドラインはこちら

Articles

There are many articles not specific to Japan, and based on research done outside of Japan showing the harmful effects of losing contact with a parent. But these statistics would be more convincing if they were from studies in Japan.  Please let us know about any Japan specific articles you find on this subject.  Non-Japan specific articles can be found here.  Also see Joint Custody in Japan for additional references.

• 14-year-old girl arrested for attempted murder after stabbing father; Mainichi Daily News; December 26, 2006.  14-year-old girl stabs divorced father because he would not let her see her mother." (cached copy)
• Child custody in Japan isn't based on rules; San Francisco Chronicle; August 27, 2006.  A law professor discusses why institutional reasons rather than cultural ones are to blame for bad family law in Japan.  Much of Japan's family law is based on the need to cover up the fact that Japanese courts are powerless to enforce their own decisions.  It contains an example of culturally biased opinions regarding visitation made by a prominent "family expert" in a book on visitation, as well as descriptions of apparently mainstream anti-visitation opinions expressed by family court mediators.  Both of these, until now, were only available in Japanese. (cached copy)
• Parents' rights a demographic issue; The Japan Times; July 18, 2006; Law professor from Doshisha University in Kyoto postulates that prejudices against men in the family law and courts might be effecting Japan's plummeting birth rate. (cached copy)
• Center planned to help single mothers collect payments from ex-husbands;  The Asahi Shimbun; September 8, 2006.  Contains some interesting statistics from a government survey, giving rates of child support payments by fathers, single mothers, child visitation. Also says that "Some 20.6 percent [of single mothers] said they wanted their former husbands out of their lives...".  If you would expect a single mother to be more likely than a remarried mother to want help from the natural father, this gives us a conservative estimate of the overall rate of denied visitation.

• Schools battle bad behavior of first-graders; The Daily Yomiuri ; 17 May 2004.  The Tachikawa city government in western Tokyo has attracted attention for assigning active or former kindergarten and nursery teachers to primary schools to deal with difficulties arising from unruly first-grade primary students. (cached copy)

• Serious Juvenile Crimes Soar; Yomiuri Shinbun; July 18, 2003. This article notes that stricter laws may not be the answer to reducing juvenile crime in Japan.  Comments from Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama that the environment surrounding juveniles must be improved. (scanned image copy)

• Joint Custody Discourages Divorce; Washington Post; Page CO5; Sunday, 25 January 1998.   (Not specific to Japan) This is an online transcription from an article in the Washington Post.  I'm not sure if it is the whole article or just a part of it.  Basically, divorce rates go down when joint custody is the law.  As divorce rates rise in Japan and birth rates lower, perhaps this would be an argument for changes in  Japanese law that the politicians would listen to. (cached copy)

• Troubleshooter / Woman Misses Grandchild; Daily Yomiuri; October 12, 2003.   A translation (I think) of letter from a woman who wants to see her grandchild, but her son's ex-wife has custody.  The reply by a lawyer sadly talks about how the welfare of the child may be best served by watching him only from afar.  (cached copy)

• Judge rules mother still faces indictment; The Roanoke Times; February 15, 2002. U.S. District Judge James Turk denied Yoko Mizuno's request to drop the charges of kidnapping her two daughters. (I cannot find the online reference so only the locally cached copy is available.)

• Frozen out, frustrated father refuses to give up; Asashi Shinbun; January 27, 2002.   Article about a Japanese family trying to negate the father and subsequent in ability to see his child.  The father, David Brian Thomas is a co-founder of CRC Japan. (cached copy)

• For Japanese, a Typical Tale of Divorce Washington Post; May 19, 2001.   A good discussion of how the non-custodial parent in Japan is often denied visitation with their child -- and often prefers it that way.  Quotes from Kayoko Miyamoto, who is Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ex-wife.  (I cannot find the online reference so only the locally cached copy is available.   It originated here.)

• Divorce, Japanese Style; The Los Angeles Times; Oct 2, 2001.   Another article on divorce in Japan using Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as an example.  Talks more about the Japanese who are trying to change the laws also. (Original also available at www.latimes.com) (cached copy)

• Divorced dads demanding right to see kids; Mainichi Daily News; August 1, 2001. Articles says that  "from 1998 to 2000 there was a 42 percent increase in requests for courts to recognize visitation rights," so the government is looking into it.  Also says that there are no fixed rules for length of visitation. (cached copy)