Japan does not recognise the legal concept of joint custody, or “shared authority” of children. Read more at straitstimes.com.
TOKYO – Mr Yasuo Hojyo was home alone when his wife and five-year-old son appeared in the doorway. He said the boy seemed troubled. “My son was looking at my wife uneasily. He looked confused,” Mr Hojyo said.
Among Group of Seven nations, Japan is alone in not recognising the legal concept of joint custody, or “shared authority”. While the majority of Japanese divorces settle privately or are successfully mediated, courts take over when spouses can’t agree, eventually awarding the equivalent of full custody to one parent if there are children involved.
Proponents see such reforms as key to addressing broader dysfunction within Japan’s legal system while potentially conferring profound social and economic benefits. Opponents of joint custody warn such changes may have unintended negative consequences, especially when it comes to divorces where allegations of abuse are levelled.
In recent years, sole custody has come under increasing fire as the Japanese workplace undergoes a slow transformation from its 20th century structures. Group lawsuits by separated parents seeking more access to their children have increased. Each year, divorce affects roughly 200,000 Japanese children, double that of 50 years ago in a country where the total number of minors has plummeted. Of children with divorced parents, one in three said they eventually lost all contact with the non-custodial parent, a 2021 government survey showed. Given the system’s winner-take-all approach, spousal battles have only intensified, escalating the economic and emotional damage.
Over the last 40 years, the number of single-mother households in Japan rose by 46 per cent, but only 28 per cent of those households consistently receive child support. And when they do, the amount averages 50,485 yen a month. Overall, child support accounts for 16.2 per cent of total income of single-mother households, according to the government.
Part of this increased litigiousness may be related to changes both in Japanese families and the workplace. The share of male workers who work more than 60 hours a week dropped from 22.4 per cent in 1990 to 8 per cent in 2020. Over the past five years, the percentage of fathers who take paternity leave tripled to 14 per cent , though women still spend 4.5 times more time on housework and childcare.
Two main reasons cited for the mother to retain custody were continuity of living environment and the son’s desire to live with her. The report did caution however that small children tend to react negatively to the non-resident parent. Such orders aren’t enforceable the way they are in other countries, said Professor Colin P.A. Jones of Doshisha University. Agencies and institutions generally don’t have to comply. “What does having a judgment from the family court mean in Japan?” he said. “In the end, not very much.”Justice Minister Ken Saito declined to comment on criticism of Japan’s child custody system.
The number of allegations of intimate partner crime has risen five-fold since 2001, with women accounting for 75 per cent of the victims, according to the National Police Agency. Some mothers were compelled to carry out visitation after claims of psychological abuse by their husband were dismissed during mediation, said Ms Chieko Akaishi, who heads an advocacy group called Single Mothers Forum.
Ms Catherine Henderson on the street in Tokyo where she used to live with her children. Henderson, an Australian, said she failed in her effort to obtain custody. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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