Marriage to Japanese Citizens and having kids.

[ozkai]

I thought parents of dual nationalities may find this interesting.

I recently ended a nine year marriage to my wife who was Japanese.

We had a son born in Australia.

All she wanted to do was to remove our son out of Australia and return with him to Japan, constantly failing to understand that I am his loving father and not only is this important to me, but also our son.

She refused to tell me if she had obtained a Japanese passport for our son, as she did register him in Japan in her maiden name only. Please note, only her siganture is required to register and also a Japanese passport.

Having huge concerns, not only in regrds to her mental stability and failure to faciliate in regards to our son upon seperation, but also knowing she may very well dissapear with our son back to Japan who are not a party to the agreement on child abduction from the Hague Convention.

Please also note, the Japanese Emabassy in Australia was not able to tell me if indeed my son had a Japanese passport.

To cut a long story short, I started family court proceedings against her a week ago.

The first order imposed on her was to hand in our sons Japanese passport to the court as she admitted in the court that she had indeed ohtained one without my knowledge. The second was a restraining order to stop her applying for another, and other orders in my favour in regards to our child.

The case will continue for some while as I will be wanting my son to live with me the majority of the time and also myself being the main decision maker due to past disturbing events.

Please keep in mind that my American colleague in Japan also had huge problems with her Japanese husband, and she basically abducted him without her husbands knowledge back to the US, knowing full well upon divorce that she would lose evrything against him including the child and would have been kicked out of the country..

Just a good word of caution for anyone who may end up in the same or similar situation.

[Skuu]

Wow, interesting story dude. Sorry you had such a tough time. This kinda international legal stuff has gotta be a headache. Good luck with your son.

[bELyVIS]

Originally Posted by ozkai

I thought parents of dual nationalities may find this interesting.

I recently ended a nine year marriage to my wife who was Japanese.

We had a son born in Australia.

All she wanted to do was to remove our son out of Australia and return with him to Japan, constantly failing to understand that I am his loving father and not only is this important to me, but also our son.

She refused to tell me if she had obtained a Japanese passport for our son, as she did register him in Japan in her maiden name only. Please note, only her siganture is required to register and also a Japanese passport.

Having huge concerns, not only in regrds to her mental stability and failure to faciliate in regards to our son upon seperation, but also knowing she may very well dissapear with our son back to Japan who are not a party to the agreement on child abduction from the Hague Convention.

Please also note, the Japanese Emabassy in Australia was not able to tell me if indeed my son had a Japanese passport.

To cut a long story short, I started family court proceedings against her a week ago.

The first order imposed on her was to hand in our sons Japanese passport to the court as she admitted in the court that she had indeed ohtained one without my knowledge. The second was a restraining order to stop her applying for another, and other orders in my favour in regards to our child.

The case will continue for some while as I will be wanting my son to live with me the majority of the time and also myself being the main decision maker due to past disturbing events.

Please keep in mind that my American colleague in Japan also had huge problems with her Japanese husband, and she basically abducted him without her husbands knowledge back to the US, knowing full well upon divorce that she would lose evrything against him including the child and would have been kicked out of the country..

Just a good word of caution for anyone who may end up in the same or similar situation.

That is horrible. I'm sorry you have to go through all that. I guess I'm lucky that I cannot have children so if me and my wife ever get divorced at least won't be an issue. Good luck to you.

[MMM]

I don't understand the second to last paragraph. Your American colleague abducted who?

I have an American friend in Japan going through a divorce (they have three kids) and he is now realizing that if he moves back to the US his soon-to-be ex can very easily not allow him to ever see his kids again. Very sad stuff.

[sarasi]

I know a number of guys who are divorced and now live in Japan doing low-end teaching jobs because it is the only way they will be able to see their kids at all. In some cases their ex-wives refuse to let them see the kids even though they are here, and in one case a guy has yet to meet his daughter as his wife and parents forced him to move out before the baby was born.

Unfortunately there seems to be quite a lot of that kind of thing.

[Nyororin]

These are really unfortunate events, for the parents and the kids... But I think a lot of people have the tendency to forget there are two sides to every story. I don`t mean this as anything against Ozkai - but in general.
If you`re reading English accounts, they`re obviously going to be in favor or the writer - 99% of the time the foreign side of the relationship. But I would say there are just as many horror stories if looked at from the other side.
I`ve had the misfortune to translate for quite a few divorce cases between foreigners and Japanese... And it`s never a straight story of "We broke up and he/she`s running off with the kids!"

[blimp]

more on the The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. the convention makes sure that signatory countries have to send back a child/children to its previous country of residence if that country asks for it. refusal is possible

this means that japan or a japanese court does not have to send back an "abducted" child. there are plenty of these cases involving japan and many countries is putting continuous pressure on japan to become a signatory. japan has so far refused. [personal opinion]not japan's proudest moment[/personal opinion]. japan is the only G7-member not being a signatory. it is also the only "rich" country except for singapore that has not signed the convention. (pls, don't ask me for a definition on rich).

ozkai, if she manages to leave australia for japan with your child chances that you will never see your child again are unfortunately very big. also keep in mind that it wouldn't surprise me if she could just get a new passport for both herself and your son again at the japanese embassy. this is not exclusive for japan.

now, concerning your US colleague, what she did is against the hague convention and therefore the US, as a principle, will have to send back the child to japan if they request so. it is usually not to your advantage if you have abducted your child in a court.