My name is Naoki Miyoshi.

I am the founder and chief editor of Fathers' Website, an on-line organization that is fighting to ensure that divorced parents retain the right to joint custody of their children. My personal reason for starting this campaign is that I have been denied the right to see my daughter for three years. After my divorce, I was surprised to learn of the myriad mothers and fathers living under the same circumstances. They are denied access even to check in on the health of their children. The following passage is a quote from one such parent:

This quote represents the pain and suffering experienced by so many parents every day in Japan. But even more tragic, is the fact that, as a product of mandatory sole custody legislation, so many children are conversely denied the right to ever see both of their true parents again. These parents and children are denied the inherent human right of visiting with their family because of the flawed and antiquated Japanese divorce and child custody legislation.

Already in its third year of operation, Fathers' Website was established on September 23, 2000 as a bulletin board and communication forum for parents unable to see their children after divorce. We receive a great deal of information from these parents and send advice to those who seek it. But while it was good idea to start Fathers' Website solely as a forum for exchange, we came to realize that we had to revise the law. Accordingly, Fathers' Website has expanded to act as a media outlet to spread information and opinions on Japanese child custody issues.

Our new mission is:-

• 1. To realize the formation of new laws that guarantees the right to joint child custody with the caveat that along with the right of joint meetings with the child comes the responsibility of bearing the financial burden of the child 's upbringing.
  
  
• 2. To see the conversion of the concept of parental authority to one that takes the rights of the child into account and
  
  
• 3. To abolish independent child custody and replace it with cooperative child custody. To accomplish our goals, we have launched a web-based signature petition.
  

The case for change Civil law in Japan was enacted during the Meiji era, over 100 years ago, and has remained the rule of law ever since. The laws that relate specifically to child custody were revised as far back as Showa 22 (1947), and read to this day that, in the case of Japan, when a couple is divorced, only one parent shall have sole child authority.

The obvious result of this unbending legislation is that one parent will exclusively have custody of the children, whether both parents like it or not.

And in the case of trial divorce, the mother is awarded child custody in approximately 80% of custody cases, and in almost all of the cases, for rather arbitrary reasons.

Even if this legislation was fair and functional 60 years ago, no one can disagree that we now live in very different times.

The divorce rate continues to increase and family dynamics are shifting to keep up with contemporary lifestyles. All the while however, the Japanese legislative body has virtually left its divorce and child custody legislation as it was originally written. We have found that while divorce rates increase annually, the numbers of court staff remain static. Further, as one Diet member remarked, the quality of examiners and mediation members on the domestic relations court are deteriorating. Mediation boards and examiner positions are for example, most often peopled by inexperienced retirees chosen by such arbitrary means as recommendations from friends. Indeed, many parents involved in divorce and child custody trial proceeding have expressed great dissatisfaction with the mediation system of the family court. With these administrative arrangements, we are compelled to question the ability of this administrative body to function effectively as a mediator in domestic relations. We must also conclude that the current law that supports these administrative arrangements has fallen behind the times and fails to reflect modern society. In short, it is a fossil of the old regime.

While the issue of flawed divorce and child custody legislation remains swept under the carpet in bureaucratic circles, there is no shortage of media attention being given to the topic. Asahi Newspaper took up The Problems After Divorce based on information distributed through Fathers' Website. It was published on October 22, 2000 in the Kanto area and again on October 25, 2000 in Kansai. Yomiuri Newspaper ran an article about Being Unable to Meet a Child After Divorce on December 6 of the same year. Many people who read these articles accessed Fathers' Website. An interview was run in such prestigious media outlets as The L.A Times, Washington Post, Weekly Yomiuri and Mainichi Newspapers as well as Mainichi and TBS radio. This interview focused on human rights and appealed against the defects of the current laws so strongly that several members of the Diet have responded to the Mainichi Broadcasting System 's interview.

These news programs helped us to bring into public focus the problems of the current law. Because of the substantial media coverage of the topic of divorce and child custody in Japan, Fathers' Website is now stronger than ever in its struggle to change the current flawed legislation. Aside from the mere antiquity of divorce and child custody legislation, one of the main issues that Fathers' Website is confronting is the sheer lack of child custody laws.There is, for example:-

• no law that enforces the payment of child support. Financial child support is purely voluntary. Further, there is:-
  
  
• no law that legislates parent-child visits.
  

Another equally troubling manifestation of the current Japanese divorce and child custody legislation is the ambiguous yet unquestioned interpretations of legal jargon. These ambiguities include the mistaken and confusing legal interpretations of both authority and custody. Current parental authority and custody laws are interpreted so as to only take into account the rights of the parent. But while the rest of the civilized world has come to recognize and include the rights and needs of the child in its legislative discussions, jurisdictional bodies in Japan will have nothing to do with analytical dialogue over the impacts of ambiguous legal interpretation. Indeed, the Okayama City web page states that they will not even consider a revision of the current law by openly stating joint custody is not acceptable.

Moreover, Kitakata Town in Saga Prefecture openly defines parental authority as not the right of the child but the right of the parent. The ultimate consequences of these ambiguous interpretations however, are that there are no laws in Japan that take into account the wishes of a child to visit with both parents. Further, these interpretations imply that the parent has a right to the child rather than a duty to the child. With the worldwide contemporary realization of the need to protect children's rights to happiness, a concept of parental authority that ignores the child's wishes is indeed antiquated.

The Ministry of Justice however continues to ignore this rift. International comparisons Although Japan has labeled itself the global standard in family arrangements and husband-wife participation, the truth is often otherwise.

Family life in Japan is often just as fractious as family life anywhere. But when comparing Japanese divorce legislation with international examples, we come to realize that child custody laws in Japan are antiquated and flawed by comparison. To illustrate this disparity, we only have to examine statistics on juvenile crime:-

Children of divorced homes are often the perpetrators of juvenile crime. But surprisingly, the proportion of juvenile crime in Japan is higher than that of the United States, where the divorce rate is much higher. While The Ministry of Justice recognizes this anomaly, no effort has been taken to relate it to the current child custody legislation. Meanwhile, problems between parent and child, arising from the current legislative arrangements, continue to increase. Remarkable disparities are also evident when comparing the Japanese record on childrens' rights with those of other advanced countries. Even though Japan has made childrens' rights a priority issue, going as far as ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1994, we consider Japan to have the least childrens' rights of any advanced country.

Conversely, even though the United States has yet to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, more than 30 states in the U.S. have adopted joint child custody legislation. It can therefore only be attributed to complete government negligence when children 's rights are not protected in Japan.

We hope to bring Japan up to international standards by holding it to its obligations under the convention. Further, in keeping with our realization that international divorce rates are increasing as well and it is not only a Japanese problem, we endeavor to realize revisions in law that are not only acceptable within, but a model for, a global society.

In the search for a solution, Fathers' Website is not the first to recognize the deleteriousness of Japanese divorce and child custody legislation. Takao Sato, Emeritus Professor at Kokugakuin University, collected study group reports of the divorce system, and presented his work to both the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Justice 18 years ago to argue in favor of joint parental custody. The government however did not concede. The Ministry of Justice 's conclusion was that it is impossible to grant joint custody in divorce cases because the relationship between the husband and wife will be completely different after divorce as they are in fact, no longer husband and wife. We find this wording illogical and don't agree with the conclusion. For even though the parents ' relationship with one another will indeed change, the child will remain biologically related to both the mother and father forever. But while Japanese legal experts debate over the theories and technicalities of husband- wife and parent-child relationships, we contend that the relationship between parent and child is an abiding product of nature. While the love between husband and wife occasionally fades, the love between parent and children is enduring. And if couples become divorced, regardless of their future relationship to one another, they remain the child 's true parents. Indeed, psychologists have shown that there are many adverse effects from divorce because the normal bond between parent and child is severed, and they continue to find behavioral abnormalities that are created and perpetuated through the lack of regular visitation. These issues however, and others concerning the psychological impacts of divorce, are rarely discussed in Japanese legal circles. Ironically in fact, psychologists are seldom included, if at all, in legal arguments for the revision of divorce and child custody legislation. So while parents continue to suffer as a result of administrative ignorance, many children continue as well to suffer damaging and irreparable psychological trauma from being unable to ever meet their real parents.

And the legacy continues.

For we are now able to gather data from grown children who have lived through the divorce of and complete separation from their parents. The ultimate consequence:-

Everyone suffers from mandatory sole custody!

Through our discussion forums and activities, Fathers' Website has recognized all of these issues. Through signature petition, media attention and lobbying activities we endeavor to realize a just and compassioned revision to the current Japanese divorce and child custody legislation.

Our battle to change these laws however is not without ammunition:-

A judicial precedent was set regarding parental custody laws when a man, denied the right to see his child sued in Shizuoka District Court and was awarded five million yen in damages. The court decided that, It is natural that the father would want to see his child , and declared that, when children are unable to see their fathers, they could possibly lose the ability to recognize them. This is akin to consciously taking their right away.

Finally, and almost pointedly appropriate, the Shizuoka District Court ruled that it is unjust to take away the father's right to see their child for no other reason than jealous emotion.

Armed with these legal precedents, Fathers' Website proposes the following revisions to current Japanese divorce and child custody legislation.

We propose that:-

1. Mandatory sole custody be abolished and a law guaranteeing the right to joint or cooperative child custody put in its place.

This new law would stipulate that along with the right of joint meetings with the child comes the enforced responsibility of bearing the financial burden of the child 's upbringing. This new law would also provide for parent history and background investigations by qualified experts so that in cases where there is a threat to the safety and welfare of the child, the child will be protected and sole child custody awarded.

2. The rights of the child and duty to the child be included in a reinterpretation of parental authority and custody.

This will create a healthier environment for children living through divorce.

The newly interpreted laws should be executed in a similar fashion as the road traffic law, where mediation, deliberation, and divorce proceedings are legislated through strict guidelines and enforced by qualified experts. Further, we concur with Emeritus Professor Takao Sato and recommend that mediation board member and examiner positions be filled only by candidates who have studied divorce and child custody mediation as a special field of study, served as an intern and have been tested for competency through examination. Fathers' Website continues its quest to realize these new and fair child custody laws.

Every moment wasted however, is another through which parents and children living through divorce must suffer. Let 's not waste anymore time.

Enact just laws now.