1. CNN reports of Christopher Savoie’s arrest and the Japan abduction issue:
Cnn.com
 CNN video reports of Mr. Savoie (click “Sovie custody battle” and
“dad in custody battle”):
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/world.  CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Anderson
Cooper have each separately done programs on the arrest and the Japan
abduction issue.  Their videos have not been posted yet.

2. NBC Today Show.  (NBC is one of the major US networks, and the
Today Show is broadcast throughout the entire US).   Jeremy Morley,
who is one of the top US family law experts on Japan, is a guest in
the show.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33068613#33086474

3. This is from the UK's BBC about Shane Clarke’s abduction case,
which coincides with Mr. Savioe's arrest:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8283948.stm

5. Japan Times article: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20091001a2.html

6. Stars & Stripes, the US military’s daily newspaper:
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65109

7. K5 News (AP) article:
K5article

8. Debito’s blog: http://www.debito.org/

9. Patrick Braden, and Amy Savoie interview on cbs

Interview

10. Tennessean article

Ill add more as I receive these links in.

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) – Had this custody drama played out in the United States, Christopher Savoie might be considered a hero — snatching his two little children back from an ex-wife who defied the law and ran off with them.

A Tennessee court awarded Christopher Savoie custody of his son, Isaac, and daughter, Rebecca.

But this story unfolds 7,000 miles away in the Japanese city of Fukuoka, where the U.S. legal system holds no sway.

And here, Savoie sits in jail, charged with the abduction of minors. And his Japanese ex-wife — a fugitive in the United States for taking his children from Tennessee — is considered the victim.

“Japan is an important partner and friend of the U.S., but on this issue, our points of view differ,” the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said Tuesday. “Our two nations approach divorce and child-rearing differently. Parental child abduction is not considered a crime in Japan.”

The story begins in the Nashville suburb of Franklin, Tennessee, with the January divorce of Savoie from his first wife, Noriko, a Japanese native. The ex-wife had agreed to live in Franklin to be close to the children, taking them to Japan for summer vacations.

Savoie in March requested a restraining order to prevent his ex-wife from taking the children to Japan, saying she had threatened to do so, according to court documents obtained by CNN affiliate WTVF and posted on the station’s Web site. A temporary order was issued, but then lifted following a hearing.

After that ruling, Christopher Savoie tried to have Martin recuse himself, as he was a mediator in the case prior to becoming a judge, said Marlene Eskind Moses, Noriko Savoie’s attorney. But that request was denied, as Savoie earlier said he had no concerns about Martin hearing the matter.

Following the summer trip, Noriko Savoie did return to the United States, and Christopher Savoie then took the children on a vacation, returning them to his ex-wife, his attorney, Paul Bruno, told CNN.

But days later, on the first day of classes for 8-year-old Isaac and 6-year-old Rebecca, the school called Savoie to say his children hadn’t arrived, Bruno said. Police checked Noriko Savoie’s home and did not find the children.

Concerned, Savoie called his ex-wife’s father in Japan, who told him not to worry.

“I said, ‘What do you mean — don’t worry? They weren’t at school.’ ‘Oh, don’t worry, they are here,’ ” Savoie recounted the conversation to CNN affiliate WTVF earlier this month. “I said, ‘They are what, they are what, they are in Japan?’ “  Watch Savoie talk about how much he misses his kids »

The very thing that Savoie had predicted in court papers had happened — his wife had taken their children to Japan and showed no signs of returning, Bruno said.

After Noriko Savoie took the children to Japan, Savoie filed for and received full custody of the children, Bruno said. And Franklin police issued an arrest warrant for his ex-wife, the television station reported.

But there was a major hitch: Japan is not a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on international child abduction. The international agreement standardizes laws, but only among participating countries.

So while Japanese civil law stresses that courts resolve custody issues based on the best interest of the children without regard to either parent’s nationality, foreign parents have had little success in regaining custody.

Japanese family law follows a tradition of sole custody divorces. When a couple splits, one parent typically makes a complete and lifelong break from the children.

In court documents filed in May, Noriko Savoie denied that she was failing to abide by the terms of the couple’s court-approved parenting plan or ignoring court-appointed parent coordinators. She added she was “concerned about the stability of Father, his extreme antagonism towards Mother and the effect of this on the children.”

Noriko Savoie could not be reached by CNN for comment.

Bruno said he helped Christopher Savoie pursue legal remedies to recover the children, working with police, the FBI and the State Department.

“We tried to do what we could to get the kids back,” Bruno said. “There was not a whole lot we can do.”

“Our court system failed him,” said Diane Marshall, a court-appointed parent coordinator who helped Savoie make decisions about the children. “It’s just a mess.”

But Moses, Noriko Savoie’s attorney, told CNN that the children’s father had other legal options.

The International Association for Parent-Child Reunion, formed in Japan this year, claims to know of more than 100 cases of children abducted by non-custodial Japanese parents.

And the U.S. State Department says it is not aware of a single case in which a child taken from the United States to Japan has been ordered returned by Japanese courts — even when the left-behind parent has a U.S. custody decree.

Facing such statistics and the possibility of never seeing his kids again, Savoie took matters into his own hands.

He flew to Fukuoka. And as his ex-wife walked the two children to school Monday morning, Savoie drove alongside them.

He grabbed the kids, forced them into his car, and drove off, said police in Fukuoka.

He headed for the U.S. consulate in that city to try to obtain passports for Isaac and Rebecca.

But Japanese police, alerted by Savoie’s ex-wife, were waiting.

Consulate spokeswoman Tracy Taylor said she heard a scuffle outside the doors of the consulate. She ran up and saw a little girl and a man, whom police were trying to talk to.

Eventually, police took Savoie away, charging him with the abduction of minors — a charge that carries a jail sentence of up to five years.

Bruno said if the situation were reversed and a Japanese parent had abducted a Japanese child and fled to America, U.S. courts would “correct that problem, because it’s a crime.”

He said he has “concerns about Japan … providing a place for people to abduct children and go to. The parent left behind does not have recourse.” He added, “the president and his administration should do something to correct this.”

The consulate met with Savoie on Monday and Tuesday, Taylor said. It has provided him with a list of local lawyers and said it will continue to assist.

Japan urged to sign accord against parental abductions

Friday 22nd May, 06:18 AM JST

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the United States Ichiro Fujisaki speaks often in Washington. He like to emphasize what he expects in his diplomatic mission. His first expectation and rule, is that he wants “no surprises” between the US and Japan.On Monday, March 9th, he was surprised; and not in the good way.A seemingly irrelevant House of Representatives resolution sponsored by a New Jersey Republican (Chris Smith) calling on Brazil to honor its commitment to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, suddenly became Japan’s problem. The Democratic leadership of the House decided that this resolution (H. Res. 125) was the perfect vehicle to address a number of related child abduction issues. Wronged parents can be very tenacious constituents.Thus, the Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee Howard Berman (D-CA) allowed the resolution to be amended to include language that pointed out other cases of unlawful child abduction. Some cases have been with countries that have signed the Hague Convention, but have demonstrated a pattern of noncompliance, such as Brazil, Bulgaria Chile, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Poland, and Venezuela. AND Countries that are NOT “partners with the United States under the Hague Convention” such as JAPAN, India, and Russia.The Resolution also included two examples of countries that have caused American parents-left-behind incredible grief: Brazil being one case and JAPAN being the other. It was not lost on members of Congress that Japan was being grouped with less “developed” countries like India and Russia.On March 11th, Mr. Berman agreed to “suspend the rules” (a common parliamentary procedure with noncontroversial legislation) and the Resolution sped through the HFAC and landed on the floor of the House also under the suspension of the rule. Several congressman gave prepared statements and Chairman Berman introduced the resolution and led the discussion (debate). Rep Xavier Becerra (D-CA) discussed the situation of Melissa Braden who was abducted to Japan. It appears Rep Smith called for a roll call vote (it is possible this was the result of last minute Japanese Embassy lobbying). I am not sure that was wise for Japan, but it was good for Mr. Smith. (you can find the discussion in the Congressional Record pp H3300-3305.]Under suspension of the rules, debate is limited and the vote is a voice vote with the result implying unanimous consent. With a roll call vote, everyone has to go on the record as to how he or she voted. Interestingly, 418 of the 435 members of the House were on the floor at the time. So the result was 418 voting for the resolution, making it unanimous–and embarrassing for Japan.This is not the first time Japan has been surprised by the US Congress by issues of values and law to which Tokyo is not a “partner” with the US. And it will not be the last.More on Melissa Braden. Link to original article. 

Denial of child abduction as a crime is hurting those left behind, writes Justin Norrie in Tokyo.

FOUR years ago George Obiso’s former wife took his two young sons on a six-week holiday to Japan and never came back.

Mr Obiso, 42, still recalls anxiously watching the clock in his Gold Coast home as he waited for their mother, Sachi Shimada, to return them on the designated day.

“I waited and waited. I kept listening out for their voices at the door, but they never came. Sachi had no intention of ever bringing them back,” says Mr Obiso, of Southport, who had split from his Japanese wife the previous year after she became depressed and withdrawn.

“Her family moved out of their Yokohama home, disconnected the phone and disappeared somewhere into Japan, so I couldn’t find them or even talk to my sons.

“It’s been four years. I’ve missed a large part of their childhood and I’m starting to doubt I’ll ever see them again. It’s been a horrible, horrible nightmare.”

Even if he found Anthony, now 12, and Jorge jnr, 8, Mr Obiso would be unlikely to get much sympathy from Japan’s family law courts. For almost 30 years, Japan has resisted pressure from other Group of Seven nations to sign the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction; as such its judiciary does not recognise parental child abduction as a crime.

Mr Obiso is one of hundreds of “left-behind” parents from international marriages whose children have been abducted by a spouse who in effect enjoys immunity in Japan from prosecution by local authorities.

The Hague convention, which has been signed by every other developed country, requires the “prompt return of children who have been abducted from their country of habitual residence”. Since it took effect, foreign parents have spent millions of dollars working their way through Japan’s bureaucratic court system in an effort to see their children again and take them home. No court has ever ruled in their favour.

Many more Japanese parents have been affected. There is no tradition of dual access, so when parents separate, one gets custody while the other typically never sees the children again.

Colin Jones, a professor at Doshisha University Law School in Kyoto, believes that Japan is essentially “a haven for parental child abduction”. This is largely because Japanese courts are entrenched in a national bureaucracy whose goal is to ratify “the status quo, particularly in child custody and visitation cases, where courts have few, if any, powers to enforce change”.

Because there is no substantive law defining the best interests of the child in cases of parental separation, ratifying the status quo invariably means deciding in favour of the parent who already has custody.

The problem is compounded in cases where there are allegations of abuse, as Paul Wong can attest. After the death of his Japanese wife, Akemi, from cancer in 2005, the US lawyer, 42, left his daughter Kaya, now 5, with her maternal grandparents in Kyoto and made fortnightly visits from Hong Kong, where he was working, while he looked for a job in Tokyo.

“I promised my wife before she died I would make sure Kaya knew her Japanese cultural heritage and her grandparents, so I decided to honour that and live with her in Japan,” he says. “Just as I was about to move to Tokyo, Akemi’s parents hit me with a lawsuit alleging I had sexually assaulted my own daughter. The lawsuit was full of so many crazy, disgusting lies. Akemi’s friends told me they blamed me for her death, and that’s why they wanted to take Kaya away.”

The court found the claims could not be substantiated by evidence, but ruled that custody should be given to the grandparents anyway.

“This has done irreparable harm not just to me, but to a sweet, innocent child,” says Mr Wong. “It’s gut-wrenching, but I simply can’t give up hope.”

Japanese family lawyers say allegations of sexual assault and domestic violence are common in parental child abduction cases. In a recent article in Mainichi Shimbun, a prominent family lawyer, Kensuke Onuki, said he opposed Japan signing the convention because “in more than 90 per cent of cases in which the Japanese women return to Japan, the man is at fault, such as with domestic violence and child abuse”. Whereas women can’t easily provide evidence of the abuse, he says, the men rarely have trouble drumming up attention in the media.

For fathers like Mr Wong, this claim “is insulting. It simply doesn’t make sense. If it’s the voices of foreign fathers that get heard, then why is it that not one foreigner has had his child returned to him? Not one - ever.”

“A lot of people are getting fed up with the way Japan is running around the world lobbying for diplomatic support over the few Japanese abductees to North Korea, when the country is permitting hundreds of its own citizens to do the same thing to foreign parents in broad daylight.”

In September, after a newspaper report claimed Japan would sign the convention as soon as 2010, the Australian embassy in Tokyo sent a “formal government-to-government communication … commending them and offering assistance,” an embassy official said.

But Japan’s Foreign Ministry subsequently distanced itself from the report. A spokesman said the Government was still considering signing the convention but had not made a decision.

Link back 

Well bit of progress everyday keep your fingers crossed.  Here are a few VERY small pics. All I can get right now are just super small cell phone pics.  

Erika

Alyssa

Collin

Collin Library

So I finally was able to talk to my wife the last few days.  I also got to talk to my oldest daughter Erika for about 20 seconds.  I told her I love her soooo much and I miss her sooo much.   I asked her if she missed me, and she said she did.  I asked her if she loved me and she started to say it.  Yes daddy I ….. then she started speaking Japanese as she is starting to forget english.  I broke down in tears after that.  My youngest two children don’t really remember me I guess.   Alyssa is 4, and Collin just turned 1 in May.  If I don’t get them back soon I probably never will.  If you can help me get back to Japan before Christmas please donate to my paypal.  The button is on the right side of the page.      Here are a few tiny pics she sent.  Trying to get her to send some larger pics.Here are all the kids together plus a friend.  The pic is so small I don’t know which of the larger girls in the middle is Erika.  As you can see the girls hair got cut so short.  It makes me sad.  Erika had long beautiful brown hair, now it looks like they dyed it black so she’ll fit in better.  Here is my first picture of my little boy that doesn’t even know me now standing on his own.  I missed so much    Collin standing up. They are not clickable that is the full size pics.  Hope to have more soon.   Keeping up hope.  Ryan 

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7668654.stm 

Foreigners whose Japanese partners are refusing to let them see their children are pressing for government help.

Japanese women from collapsed international marriages are increasingly bringing their children to Japan without confirming custody rights, creating diplomatic problems between Japan and other countries, it has emerged.

In one case three years ago, a Japanese woman’s marriage to a Swedish man collapsed and she brought their child to Japan. Later when she traveled to the United States by herself she was detained, as police in Sweden had put her on an international wanted list through Interpol for child abduction. She was sent to Sweden and put on trial.

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction bans people from taking their children to their home country after a collapsed marriage without confirming issues such as custody and visitation rights. The convention has about 80 signatory countries, mainly in Europe and North America, but Japan is not one of them.

Among cases known to foreign governments, there are about 50 cases between Japan and the U.S. in which foreign husbands are requesting custody of children brought to Japan by Japanese women, and about 30 such cases between Japan and Canada. Similar cases exist between Japan and countries such as Britain, Australia and Italy.

In such cases, when foreign husbands file lawsuits in Japan seeking custody or visitation rights, their claims are rarely accepted, and the tough barriers put up by Japan in such cases have caused frustration.

In March this year, the Canadian Embassy in Japan held a symposium on the child abduction convention that was attended by Canadian and U.S. government officials. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper also commented on the issue when he came to Japan during the July G8 summit. Some diplomatic officials have criticized Japan, saying that Japan, while criticizing North Korea’s abductions, it is carrying out abductions itself.

Among the Japanese women who have come back to Japan with their children, there are apparently some who have fled due to violence from their husbands. In other cases they have apparently concluded that they would not be able to win court custody lawsuits because they don’t know much about the other country and can’t speak the language well. There are also many who don’t realize that their actions constitute child abduction under the convention, and that they risk the same consequences as in the case in Sweden.

Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry figures show that the number of international marriages climbed from 27,700 in 2005 to 44,700 in 2006, about 1.6 times more. At the same time, divorces increased from 7,990 to 17,100 — more than doubling.

Considering that bringing children to Japan without confirming custody could constitute abduction, the Foreign Ministry has started to consider informing Japanese in international marriages through diplomatic establishments abroad. (By Megumi Nishikawa, Expert Senior Writer)

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20081025p2a00m0na009000c.html