Japan to sign Hague Convention on Child Abduction

Link: asahi.com : Japan to sign parental-abduction treaty

It's funny how things happen. Just two months ago I was in two separate meetings of some of the Americans who are probably best informed about this issue, and the consensus was that ratifying the Hague Convention was a long-term goal requiring generational change, and the best that could be hoped for was baby steps towards making Japan's domestic court system  respect the same values that the Convention embodies -- that children have a right to their relationship with both parents after divorce, and that you shouldn't gain an advantage in the custody arena by taking a child to another country.

They seem to be going about ratification the same way the U.S. does and the way we prefer other countries to: first, get the domestic institutions in place to make sure we can actually implement the treaty, and only then, formally commit ourselves by ratifying it. It will require huge changes in Japan's court system, but those changes are long overdue -- people in binational families have told me that Japanese custody and visitation law is out of step not only with the rest of the world, but with Japan's own contemporary culture.