Divorce In Japan

I am here to tell a story.
It is personal and it will not be the full story but I am here to be louder about it because this is TOP NEWS.

There are thousands of parents in Japan (foreign and Japanese) who are losing contact with their children after divorce, a growing number every day.

Articles like this one are being published all over the world.
JAPAN is doing nothing about it.

If you did not know, now you do.

I am an American mother of two children that are with their Japanese father and grandparents in Japan. After the divorce, I lost all rights to my children. Yes, I said this correctly.

I LOST ALL RIGHTS TO MY CHILDREN.

I am thankful that I still can talk with my kids and see them under very strict conditions when I visit Japan. Many parents do not have any access to their children. All I did was leave a marriage that was not a loving, healthy environment for my kids to grow up in. I wanted better for them. I feel they deserve the right to be with both parents, not just one parent. But I have no rights as a foreigner in Japan.

Japan is stuck in a time warp. They have very old laws and they are doing nothing to change them and it is ruining children’s and parents’ lives. It needs to change.

If you are reading this blog post and you know someone that can help me and others that are in this situation please reach out to me. The world needs to make this a Top News Story. We need to put pressure on Japan.

In February I was able to visit with my children in Japan after not seeing them for three years except on video chats every weekend. Japan’s strict boarder control due to the pandemic kept me from seeing my kids. When I did visit everything was controlled by the other parent and my time with my kids was short.

Our time together involved doing what the other parent wanted. I do not want to get into the details here but I will say I am very thankful that I was able to spend time with them at all. I found out a lot of things about their current upbringing that I do not agree with and that leaves me feeling very frustrated. The other parent will not communicate with me at all. Everything is communicated through my 15-year-old.

Dear world.

We need your help.

Please contact me if you can help.

Thank you for reading my blog.

With love

Heather