Australian father Scott Ellis has not seen his two children, Myra and Telena, since they were taken from his Queensland home almost five years ago. Birthdays and birthdays are the most hurtful. “Another silent Christmas for me,” he said. “I never would have dreamed that something like this could ever happen to me.”
Gold Coast father Daniel White's two-year-old daughter, Yui, was registered as abducted by the Australian embassy last year. The 34-year-old said that after four years together in Australia, he and partner Mayumi Terakado had been dreaming of a family holiday in Japan to meet Yui's grandparents, see temples in Kyoto and visit Universal Studios in Osaka.
Scott Ellis with his two children, Myra and Telena.
Then I headed south. Terakado said she needed to stay to spend more time with her parents.
“At the time, people at work would joke with me, 'She's not coming back,'” he said. “But when I looked at my family, I never dreamed of such a scenario. Now I can't believe I fell into a trap. I'm just heartbroken.”
White said he was kicked out of the house. Terakado said she left White and stayed in Japan because he was unfaithful. White says he thought they were no longer together when he was sleeping with someone else. He has not contacted his daughter since October.
“I took things the wrong way…but I can't imagine living my life without my daughter. Because now that I'm a father, my only goal for a breath of fresh air is to give everything I can to my daughter,” White said.
White says he had no contact with his daughter after his fiancée did not return from a vacation to Japan. credit: Jamila Toderas
“I've been stripped of the ability to do this, and I've been in some dark places where I've honestly considered whether it's worth being here.”
“He could have met her and FaceTimed her, but he was angry because he couldn't get what he wanted,” Terakado said. White says he can't contact his daughter because his numbers are blocked.
“He needs to talk to a Japanese lawyer,” Terakado said.
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But Japan's legal system, which allows lawyers to receive a commission from child support payments, rarely enforces custody rulings or visitation requirements, propping up a multi-million-dollar single parent support industry that has been lobbying strongly against the changes the Japanese government is proposing with leaving parents. Like Wyatt in despair.
The Australian government and opposition escalated their criticism of Tokyo after this headline and 60 minutes Last year it was revealed that dozens of Australian children had been kidnapped, with Japanese police routinely ignoring Interpol missing persons notices to locate the children.
New documents released under freedom of information laws reveal plans for a “broader strategy” to tackle child abduction after Tokyo objected to the Australian government's use of the term “abduction”, causing a rare public row between close diplomatic partners.
State Department briefing documents before the meeting with Japanese officials put it bluntly: “What we want: cooperation on child abduction and child custody issues.”
Japanese foreign affairs spokeswoman Maki Kobayashi defended Tokyo's handling of the issues. “There are different opinions, internally, locally and internationally, regarding their custody system,” she said. “We are fulfilling our international obligations”
But the kidnapped children also accused the Japanese government of destroying their relationship with their parents.
Anthony Soma always stood out in his high school class of 300 students in Kyoto. He was the only child with a foreign father. They nicknamed him “Gaijin,” meaning “outsider,” after he was transferred from the United States to Japan when he was six years old.
His mother told Soma that his father is crazy. Then he found him on Facebook. After meeting him in the United States last year, he confronted his Japanese mother, who told Soma never to return home and cut off all contact with him.
Anthony Soma says child kidnapping is tearing families apart in Japan. credit: Christopher Joe
Soma, 24, said he is speaking out because he believes the lives of thousands of kidnapped children in Japan have been harmed.
“My relationship with my mother is broken,” Soma said. “I don't want to be on my father's side. I don't want to be on my mother's side. I just want to have my perspective from when I was a kid and hear both sides.”
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Soma is one of hundreds of children kidnapped in Japan every year, with divorce rates skyrocketing. Kidnappings have become so widespread that law firms have warned companies that the risk of kidnapping must be taken into account when conducting due diligence.
“We now live in a world where companies need to prepare for the kidnapping of employees' biological children,” said the advocacy group Mothers Victims of Parental Child Abduction.
The proposed changes to Japan's custody laws would be implemented over two years if passed by Japan's parliament in March.
The laws would be retroactive, allowing parents who do not have sole custody now to file for joint custody. They would also make parental kidnapping illegal for the first time. However, some families worry that they will run out of time, and that conservative Japanese judges and understaffed police will be reluctant to enforce the new laws.
Yoshi, who asked to be referred to by her first name because kidnappings are politically and legally sensitive in Japan, counted each of the 1,355 days she spent with her grandchildren.
The 67-year-old and her husband, Hideo, rented an apartment near the rural Japanese town where her grandchildren live after her son's relationship with his wife collapsed. They have been banned from seeing them for the past four years after a court ordered that they violated the “moral rights” of the mother who kidnapped them by residing in the same city.
Grandparents Hideo and Yoshi say they have not been able to see their grandchildren for four years. credit: Christopher Joe
“We would play together and go to the zoo or the park. It was the happiest time of our lives,” Yoshi said. “I don’t want them to forget me. “I will never forget them.”
Yumi, a mother from Tokyo who also asked to be identified only by her first name, knows the intergenerational trauma the laws cause.
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Yumi was taken away from her father when she was a little girl. Then her husband kidnapped her daughter when she was three years old. She hasn't spent time with her daughter in more than seven years.
“Every day she grows, maybe one day I'll be able to show her: 'I'm always thinking about you,'” she said, holding a photo of her baby with her eyes raised.
Yumi and Suzuki are both members of a mothers' advocacy group. They say the only detention system treats them like criminals.
“I feel embarrassed to be Japanese,” Suzuki said.
Yumi's case is now before the Supreme Court. She lost her first appeal and the judge told her to stop pursuing the matter because it was stressful for the child.
“Foreign visitors keep saying, ‘Japan is a beautiful country and Japanese people are so nice and kind,’” Yumi said. “It's all lies.”
If you or someone you know needs support, call Lifeline 131 114 or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.
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