{"id":12725,"date":"2014-10-10T20:52:21","date_gmt":"2014-10-11T06:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12725"},"modified":"2021-05-21T11:42:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T18:42:44","slug":"sneak-preview-japan-times-jbc-column-80-biased-pamphlet-bodes-ill-for-left-behind-parents-on-mofa-propagandizing-re-hague-treaty-on-child-abductions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12725","title":{"rendered":"Japan Times JBC 80 October 8, 2014: “Biased pamphlet bodes ill for left-behind parents”, on MOFA propagandizing re Hague Treaty on Child Abductions"},"content":{"rendered":"

eBooks, Books, and more from ARUDOU, Debito (click on icon):
\n\"Guidebookcover.jpg\"<\/a>\"japaneseonlyebookcovertext\"<\/a>\"Handbook<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\u300c\u30b8\u30e3\u30d1\u30cb\u30fc\u30ba\u30fb\u30aa\u30f3\u30ea\u30fc\u3000\u5c0f\u6a3d\u5165\u6d74\u62d2\u5426\u554f\u984c\u3068\u4eba\u7a2e\u5dee\u5225\u300d\uff08\u660e\u77f3\u66f8\u5e97\uff09\"<\/a>\"sourstrawberriesavatar\"<\/a>\"debitopodcastthumb\"<\/a>\"FodorsJapan2014cover\"<\/a>
\nUPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito
\nDEBITO.ORG PODCASTS on iTunes, subscribe free
\n“LIKE” US on Facebook at http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/debitoorg<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.facebook.com\/handbookimmigrants<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JapaneseOnlyTheBook<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BookInAppropriate<\/a>
\nIf you like what you read and discuss on Debito.org, please consider helping us stop hackers and defray maintenance costs with a little donation via my webhoster:
\n\"Donate<\/a>
\nAll donations go towards website costs only. Thanks for your support!<\/i><\/p>\n

\"justbecauseicon.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hi Blog.\u00a0Thanks to readers\u00a0once again for putting this article into the #1 spot at the Japan Times Online for two days! \u00a0Debito<\/p>\n

“BIASED PAMPHLET BODES ILL FOR LEFT-BEHIND FOREIGN PARENTS OUTSIDE JAPAN<\/strong>
\n Pamphlet on Hague Treaty on Child Abductions displays slanted mindsets favoring the Japanese side of disputes<\/strong>
\n By Dr. ARUDOU, Debito, Column 80 for Japan Times JUST BE CAUSE, October 8, 2014<\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2014\/10\/08\/issues\/biased-pamphlet-bodes-ill-left-behind-foreign-parents-outside-japan\/<\/a>
\n\"p1\"<\/a>
\nAfter years of pressure from foreign governments, and enormous efforts by \u201cleft-behind\u201d parents to have access to children abducted to and from Japan after marital separation or divorce, the Japanese government became a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction in April.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That is, of course, good news. Now the issue becomes one of enforcement. And to that end, this column has serious doubts that the Japanese government will honor this treaty in good faith.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

These doubts are based on precedent. After all, Japan famously ignores human-rights treaties. For example, nearly 20 years after ratifying the U.N. Convention on Racial Discrimination, and nearly 30 since acceding to the U.N. Convention on Discrimination against Women, Japan still has no law against racial discrimination, nor a statute guaranteeing workplace gender equality backed by enforceable criminal penalties.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We have also seen Japan caveat its way out of enforcing the Hague before signing. For example, as noted in previous JT articles (e.g., \u201cSolving parental child abduction problem no piece of cake<\/a>\u201d by Colin P.A. Jones, March 1, 2011), the debate on custody has been muddied with ungrounded fears that returned children would, for example, face domestic violence (DV) from the foreign parent. DV in Japan\u00a0is being redefined to include nontactile acts<\/a>\u00a0such as \u201cyelling,\u201d \u201cangry looks\u201d and \u201csilent stares\u201d (particularly from men).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is within this context that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) recently issued a pamphlet titled \u201cWhat is the Hague Convention?\u201d Available in\u00a0Japanese<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0English<\/a>, it offers a 12-page manga in which a Japanese father carefully explains the Hague Convention to his Japanese-French son.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The pamphlet has sparked considerable controversy. After I blogged about it last month on\u00a0Debito.org<\/a>, many annoyed left-behind parents overseas said they would forward it to their national elected representatives. After\u00a0a South China Morning Post article<\/a>\u00a0cited blog commenters calling it racist,\u00a0Huffington Post Japan<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Al Jazeera<\/a>\u00a0picked up the story, engendering predictable relativism about differing cultural interpretations.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For the record, I never wrote that the MOFA pamphlet was \u201cracist.\u201d That term, if not used carefully, tends to dull analysis, especially since the pamphlet is more subtle than that. In fact, it provides valuable insights into MOFA\u2019s slanted mind-set towards the child abduction issue.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

First, consider the visuals. In three cartoons (on the cover, and pages 4 and 10) we see a foreign-looking man (never a woman) being physically violent towards his child, with two of those showing the child longing to return to Japan and be with mother.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Violent Dads: First and 3rd<\/sup> illustration are used twice, so three.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"MOFA1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"MOFA2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reinforcing that in five more places (cover, pages 1, 7, and 9 (twice) \u2014 see C and D) are illustrations where the child expresses dismay at being abducted from Japan; only once (page 4) is there dismay at being abducted overseas. On the other hand, pages 2 and 7 show children displaying no dismay at being abducted to Japan, or instead showing shock (pages 2 (twice) and 3 \u2014 see E) at not being allowed to return to Japan. The clear inference: Japan is, on balance, the natural place for the child, regardless of factors such as primary language or time spent living abroad.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dismay at being abducted from Japan. Cover and pg 9 repeat illustration twice, so five.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"MOFA3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"MOFA4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"MOFA5\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(text context clarifies that the third illustration above is an abduction from Japan)<\/em><\/p>\n

Dismay at being abducted overseas (one image only):<\/em><\/p>\n

\"MOFA6\"<\/a><\/p>\n

No dismay at being abducted to Japan:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"MOFA7\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"MOFA8\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dismay at not being allowed to return to Japan:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"MOFA9\"<\/a> \"MOFA10\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This implicit fear of the outside world is reinforced by images of uneasy children facing unfamiliar rules, customs and languages (pages 1, 4 and 5 (twice)). More subtle is the picture on the cover and page 1, where foreign (adults) surround, frown and stare at the nervous Japanese child as though she really doesn\u2019t belong. (She\u2019s sent back to her Japanese mother\u2019s loving arms by the next panel \u2014 phew.) Only once (page 3) is there a happy child sent back to his foreign dad.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Uneasy children facing the unfamiliar:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"MOFA11\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"MOFA17\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"MOFA12\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Being stared at by adults:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"MOFA13\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sole image of happy child being returned to NJ father (plus katakana-speaking father not in English version, referred to below):<\/em><\/p>\n

\"MOFA14\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then consider the manga storyline. The Japanese father protagonist experiences a child abduction when the French mother abducts their son to France. Fortunately, according to the pamphlet, because Japan signed the Hague, Japan\u2019s authorities can have French authorities track down the child, get mediation and (as the conflict resolution of this story) return the son (and the mother) to live happily ever after in Japan (page 6).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That is the central and tacit argument of the MOFA pamphlet: Japan signing the Hague isn\u2019t about returning children to their habitual residence (whether it be Japan or overseas); it is about giving Japan greater leverage overseas to bring its children home to Japan. Where they belong.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Moreover, for some mysterious reason we spend the first page developing the relationship between the Japanese father and son protagonists, with father comically put off-balance by a barrage of questions from son, then negotiating with him to finish his dinner before answering. By page 3, the pamphlet mysteriously succumbs to another case of the cutes, as an anime figurine appears to praise the son\u2019s intelligence (revealing father as an anime fetishist).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Irrelevant curlicues:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"MOFA16\"<\/a> \"MOFA15\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Why these irrelevant curlicues? Because by page 6, we learn why the French mother abducted the son: She accuses father of spending all his time watching anime and not paying attention to them. This is of course made dubious after all the space spent portraying the father\u2019s caring, explaining, hugging, even cooking for his son. So clearly she\u2019s just being hysterical. Of course, she returns to Japan with them after negotiations, so nothing fatal to the relationship.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On the other hand, when it\u2019s a Japanese woman abducting, her reasons are more serious than hubby\u2019s anime fetish. She has to deal with domestic violence, poverty (cover), unsympathetic or unpredictable foreign courts (pages 2, 3, 4, and 5), and even the unlikely scenario of begging frowning foreign strangers on the street to help her missing child overseas (page 2). Conclusion: The Japanese side is generally being victimized, while the foreign side is subtly depicted as violent and overreacting.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Other images referred to above. Frowning foreign strangers on the street:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"MOFA18\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is where MOFA is most disingenuous: In no fewer than four places (pages 1, 2 (twice) and 5) are unsympathetic courts, \u201ccultural differences,\u201d \u201clegal procedures\u201d and \u201clanguage barriers\u201d cited as hurdles for the Japanese spouse overseas.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s unsympathetic courts, legal procedures and cultural presumptions allowing child abductions to happen here on a regular basis \u2014 even between Japanese couples \u2014 are never mentioned. Japan, remember, has no joint custody or guaranteed child visitations.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In fact, taking the issue to a court overseas may afford both parents\u00a0more\u00a0rights \u2014 as it did in the Savoie case, where, despite the pamphlet\u2019s claims, a Tennessee court gave Noriko Savoie permission to leave the U.S. for Japan (whereupon she abducted Christopher Savoie\u2019s children). This is where the pamphlet morphs from guide to screed.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

No doubt some MOFA representatives will be reading this critique, so let me point out two more inaccuracies unbecoming of a government agency attempting an impartial review of the issue.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

First, almost all of the international marriages in the pamphlet are portrayed as between (katakana-speaking, in the Japanese version) white men and Japanese women. In fact,\u00a0most international marriages in Japan are between Japanese men and Asian women<\/a>. That is where the pamphlet is an easy target for accusations of racism. Not all \u201cforeignness,\u201d especially in this case, is so visually identifiable.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the biased terminology. It is inaccurate in the English version to frame child abductions as \u201cchildren\u2019s removal\u201d \u2014 after all, this is not the Hague Convention on Child Removals. Just as inaccurate as the term it was translated from,\u00a0tsuresari\u00a0(literally, \u201caccompanying and disappearing\u201d), meant to semantically soften the act of kidnapping <\/a>\u2014 especially when another appropriate word,\u00a0rachi, is used for abductions of Japanese by North Koreans.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On the plus side, there have already been good outcomes from Japan\u2019s joining the Hague. Left-behind parents including Christopher Savoie and U.S. Navy Capt. Paul Toland (who have\u00a0successfully pushed<\/a>\u00a0for the\u00a0Goldman Act<\/a>, as well as several U.S. congressional resolutions decrying Japan\u2019s status as a haven for child abductions) have recently had their Hague applications accepted by the Japanese government, which has promised to locate and provide access to the Americans\u2019 children in Japan. In effect, this is official acknowledgment that their children were in fact abducted from their lawful custody. Two abducted children have also been returned to their habitual residences in Japan<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

NB: \u00a0There are at least 3 US resolutions mentioning Japan Child Abduction:\u00a0House Resolutions 125 and 1326 and Senate Resolution 552. \u00a0Savoie Case, letter from MOFA\u00a0dated September 8, 2014,\u00a0accepting\u00a0his case as a Hague Case, meaning the GOJ\u00a0recognizes his legal custody:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"SavoieGOJletter090814\"<\/p>\n

Very good. But will all this eventually result in Japan actually returning a child to a parent overseas \u2014 something which, according to activists, has never happened as a result of Japanese government or court action?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s wait and see, of course. But at this juncture, I doubt Japan will enforce the Hague with much verve. Doing so, as Colin P.A. Jones has pointed out on these pages, would in fact give more rights to those in international marriages than it would domestic couples! If the Japanese government\u2019s past behavior towards inconvenient international treaties is any guide, it will find caveats to ensure international divorce does not become another way for Japan\u2019s depopulation to accelerate.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thus, MOFA\u2019s pamphlet is little more than subtle propagandizing meant to reassure the Japanese public that they haven\u2019t lost the power to abduct by signing the Hague. In fact, MOFA is portraying the Hague as a means to bring more Japanese children back home. With that mind-set as strong as ever, I anticipate that foreign parents will continue to get a raw deal from the Japanese system.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

======================<\/p>\n

Debito Arudou recommends that officials at MOFA and everyone else understand this issue better by watching \u201cFrom The Shadows,\u201d a documentary available at\u00a0www.fromtheshadowsmovie.com<\/a>. Twitter @arudoudebito. Just Be Cause usually appears in print on the first Thursday of the month. Your comments and story ideas:\u00a0community@japantimes.co.jp<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JT: After years of pressure from foreign governments, and enormous efforts by \u201cleft-behind\u201d parents to have access to children abducted to and from Japan after marital separation or divorce, the Japanese government became a party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction in April.<\/p>\n

That is, of course, good news. Now the issue becomes one of enforcement. And to that end, this column has serious doubts that the Japanese government will honor this treaty in good faith.<\/p>\n

These doubts are based on precedent. After all, Japan famously ignores human-rights treaties. For example, nearly 20 years after ratifying the U.N. Convention on Racial Discrimination, and nearly 30 since acceding to the U.N. Convention on Discrimination against Women, Japan still has no law against racial discrimination, nor a statute guaranteeing workplace gender equality backed by enforceable criminal penalties.<\/p>\n

We have also seen Japan caveat its way out of enforcing the Hague before signing. For example, as noted in previous JT articles (e.g., \u201cSolving parental child abduction problem no piece of cake\u201d by Colin P.A. Jones, Mar. 1, 2011), the debate on custody has been muddied with ungrounded fears that returned children would, for example, face domestic violence (DV) from the foreign parent. DV in Japan is being redefined to include nontactile acts such as \u201cyelling,\u201d \u201cangry looks\u201d and \u201csilent stares\u201d (particularly from men).<\/p>\n

It is within this context that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) recently issued a pamphlet titled \u201cWhat is the Hague Convention?\u201d Available in Japanese (www.mofa.go.jp\/mofaj\/files\/000033409.pdf) and English (www.mofa.go.jp\/files\/000034153.pdf), it offers a 12-page manga in which a Japanese father carefully explains the Hague Convention to his Japanese-French son. The pamphlet has sparked considerable controversy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,18,36,49,50,26,4,13,60,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pinprick-protests","category-academia","category-bad-social-science","category-child-abductions","category-gaiatsu","category-ironies-hypocrisies","category-japanese-government","category-media","category-nj-voices-ignored","category-problematic-foreign-treatment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12725"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16673,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12725\/revisions\/16673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}