Australia and the World Past and Present

The Japanese Diet has recently changed the law to legally recognise the joint custody of children after divorce.

Until this change joint custody was not formally recognised in Japanese law.

Japan was the only G7 country to not recognise joint custody.

Instead, in Japan granting sole custody to one parent was the norm, with the other parent often not allowed to have any further contact with their own child or children.

Some have argued that the system incentivised parents to be the first to take their child. Japanese courts usually award custody to the parent who has the child at the time of the court case. Some have called the system ‘parental kidnapping’ or ‘parental child abduction’.

In the vast majority of cases, the mother was awarded sole custody.

Even if the mother and father had agreed amongst themselves to share custody, if one parent later went to court, the court wouldn’t recognise a prior agreement of shared custody. It had no basis in the law.

In 2000 Japan’s Supreme Court found that visitation wasn’t a right of the parent or child.

During the discussion in the parliament, the Ministry of Justice said that the decisions concerning schooling, medical treatment and moving homes should be decided by both parents.

The sole custody system in Japan usually had very serious health implications for the the parent who was denied contact with their children. These could include a high degree of stress, depression and trouble sleeping.

There are many cases involving a parent who is from another country. However, the majority of parents affected by Japan’s sole-custody system have been Japanese citizens.

The new provisions will come into effect in 2026.

The revision will be reviewed in 5 years.

This is a welcome change to the law. It brings Japan more in line with other developed countries and helps to rectify a harsh system. There will be further issues to work out, but it is a step in the right direction.