Earlier this year, a New Jersey dad fought to get his son back from Brazil from his ex-wife’s family. Now, a similarly heart-breaking scenario is playing out–this time, in Japan.
Christopher Savoie is sitting in jail right now because he went to Japan to reclaim his two children. Their mother, Noriko–a Japanese native–previously had this court-approved agreement with Christopher: She would take the children on vacation to Japan during summers, and bring them back to Franklin, Tennessee, in time for school. This August, Noriko kept them in Japan. Since she had violated the agreement, a judge awarded Christopher full custody of the children. A warrant went out for Noriko’s arrest.
Unfortunately for Christopher, Japan is not part of the 1980 Hague Convention on international child abduction, which finds a way to bring kids home across international borders. Instead, Japanese family law follows the tradition of sole custody divorces–that is, when a couple splits up, the children usually stay with one parent while the other leaves their lives permanently.
Knowing he might never see his kids again, Christopher flew out to Japan, grabbed his kids, and tried to bring them to the U.S. consulate. That’s where he was arrested by the Japanese police. Christopher now faces the charge of abducting minors, which carries a jail sentence of up to five years.
Can we get Bill Clinton over there to fix this?
What next?
Other posts you may be interested in:
Recent Comments
- Daul Kim: One Sassy ‘n Smart Bitch
- Najib: I wonder what is going on with this girl. She has been fooled into this simulacrum, and what she thought was real is not real at all.
- Proof that Russell of Disney/Pixar’s Up is Asian: The Color Scripts
- Mending Broken Glass: Khmer Rouge History Now to be Taught in Cambodia
- kbok: it may seem shocking to other people that kids don’t believe their elders when hearing about khmer rouge atrocities, but if your mother told you that soldiers shot at her, pushing her off a mountain and into landmine paths...
- Chinese Adoptees: Stolen or Abandoned?
- Dan: CSLI, I think my previous comment stated that I “hope” not “should”. It was not meant to belittle anyone and yes I can imagine just like most people, adopted or not. Though the effect will not be the same as...
- csli: Yes, Dan. A lot of things do “go on in China”, not all of them bad”. But try to imagine what “China” means to an eleven-year old girl, surrounded by doting white Americans, who knows that she is only...
- Obama Bows to Emperor Akihito
- JC: @ Eric: Not only that, he’s half brother lives in China and is married to a Chinese woman. There’s a lot of Asian in his family
- Yahoo! Games Writer Freaks Out Over Nintendo DS Dating Simulations
- JC: This guy knows next to nothing about Otaku culture and dare to write about Japanese games. It’s just another ignorant white person making self-righteous judgment calls against another part of Asian culture. He’s just...
Recent Events
- [Nov 3] NORTHERN CA: Intro to Movietelling (Neo-Benshi) with Dennis Somera
- [Nov 14] SOUTHERN CA: Grace Kim & the Spiders From Mars
- [Nov 20] NORTHERN CA: CATS 9th Annual Asian Comedy Night starring 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors
- [Nov 21] SOUTHERN CA: BANANA: Where Infamous Asian-American Bloggers Unite to Chop It Up
- [Nov 22] TORONTO: S.M. Global Audition
19 Comments to “American Dad Jailed in Japan for Trying to Bring Kids Home”
eforeric wrote:
I've been reading this for the past few days on CNN.com.
What's not mentioned here, is that Christopher is a naturalized citizen of Japan as well. I hope this gets resolved and the right thing happens. Japan needs to become part of the Hague Convention.
Posted on 30-Sep-09 at 4:47 pm | Permalink
atlasien wrote:
Sorry, I can't get see getting worked up about this case. She parentally abducted the kids under US law, so he turned around and parentally abducted the kids under Japanese law. He made his bed, and now he's lying in it.
Posted on 30-Sep-09 at 6:48 pm | Permalink
Linda Chan wrote:
Yes, he broke the law in Japan. That being said, what would you have him do? He had every reason to believe Japan would not have cooperated in helping him get his kids back.
Then again, as eforeric pointed out (thank you for raising this point!), doesn't Savoie being a naturalized citizen of Japan mean he didn't actually break the law? Hmm..
Posted on 30-Sep-09 at 7:07 pm | Permalink
lxy wrote:
How long will it be before this case becomes a cause celebre for all the flag-waving American jingoists to get outraged over?
The US media loves to hype these kind of stories: virtuous (White) American loses his/her kids to evil foreign-born spouse.
There is a mediocre made-for-TV movie waiting to be made out of Christopher Savoie's story–not unlike the 1991 flick _Not Without My Daughter_ starring Sally Field as Betty Mahmoody, an American woman who lost her kids to her evil Iranian husband (played by Alfred Molina).
Amurikans eat this crap up.
But in this case, this “American dad” is a citizen of Japan, and you would think that Japanese law would apply here.
Posted on 30-Sep-09 at 9:25 pm | Permalink
Cindy wrote:
One thing here is that we don't know the “true” story behind all of this. Why would a mother feel the need to “abduct” her own children? It is rare this happens because the mother just wants the kids all to herself. It usually happens out of a need to protect her kids. Just throwing that out as food for thought. I may be letting my own cynicism take over here, but I'm not quite buying his story.
Even if Japan were a member of the Hague Convention, who decides what is “home”? Japan is easily argued as home as much as the US.
Posted on 01-Oct-09 at 6:00 am | Permalink
PhilDDDD wrote:
In over 50% of abduction cases — whether it be a man or woman doing the abducting — the abductor has a mental illness, and then on top of that there are just plain selfish people. So it's more likely that the children have been abducted for selfish reasons than not. If it was for other reasons, then there are plenty of remedies to use to address any other issues before stealing children and preventing them from feeling the love of both parents. Parental abduction is child abuse, and there is no excuse for it unless the children are in serious danger. The mother does not appear to have ever raised the question of serious danger in any US court.
As to home, home is the habitual residence of the children for 6 months prior to their abduction. Also, both parents had agreed to hear custody in the US. It's clear that these children were abducted from the US and the mother is guilty of a felony in the US.
Posted on 01-Oct-09 at 2:41 pm | Permalink
PhilDDDD wrote:
As a father of an abducted child, there is no “crap” here, only children suffering. I presume you're not a parent, if you were you'd dread this happening to your own children. And if you were the left behind parent — mother or father — you'd be emotionally devastated at the thought of never seeing your child again.
For the record, I feel sorry for any parent of any race, colour or nationality that loses their children to abduction. Parental child abduction is child abuse. Read the stories here: http://www.takeroot.org
Posted on 01-Oct-09 at 2:43 pm | Permalink
Cindy wrote:
Great reply Phil. Would you provide sources for your stats? It would be nice to get more information on this for my own education. Also, is the definition of habitual residence that you use a US standard or one used internationally? This still goes back to the reality that we as observers of this story do not have all the facts. Which 50% is in play here? Regardless, we can only hope that it all works out so that the children get the loving safe home they undeniably deserve.
I'm very sorry for your situation. I know this a tragedy when it occurs in these circumstances. I am truly sorry for you and your children that you have suffered in this way.
Posted on 01-Oct-09 at 4:59 pm | Permalink
lxy wrote:
So, who should have custody of the child, Phil? Which parent should suffer the pains of losing her/her child in this case–the mother or the “American dad”?
And who do you think most Americans and the US media would favor?
And explain to me why the American media hypes particular sensationalistic stories of child custody and abduction when there is a flag-waving angle to it–but does not cover this issue to the same extent when there is not.
Posted on 01-Oct-09 at 5:18 pm | Permalink
LindaChan wrote:
Phil–I pray you get your children back. Thank you for educating us on what you know about child abductions–though I'm sorry you had to go through something terrible to learn it.
Posted on 02-Oct-09 at 6:04 am | Permalink
shietkicka wrote:
Yes, he had every reason to believe the authorities in Japan would not have cooperated in helping him get his kids back cause you know, they're a bunch of dirty, racist (towards those poor oppressed White guys) , unscrupulous yellow bastards…
Posted on 04-Oct-09 at 2:48 am | Permalink
shietkicka wrote:
That's swell PhilDDDD…I wonder if you were all over any blogs raising awareness when the Baker family abducted Anna Mae He
Posted on 04-Oct-09 at 2:56 am | Permalink
sphilly3 wrote:
Since Japanese law doesn't recognize their divorce (since they didn't also divorce in Japan), how did he then break their kidnapping law.
Posted on 06-Oct-09 at 12:24 pm | Permalink
stereotypesnevermatch wrote:
Listen up – Plain and simple, Harsh but True.
Asian Women DO NOT marry a white guy. White guys, DO NOT marry an Asian Women.
Hurray!!! problem solved.
Posted on 10-Oct-09 at 7:12 pm | Permalink
stereotypesnevermatch wrote:
Stupid CNN is so biased on this coverage, I bet this isn't the full story isn't here too.
I think both parents are guilty.
Western weddings do not register as legal in Japan so that woman can not be arrested because technically she didn't break the law.
(I agree with this legal wedding restriction because it safeguards Japanese wedding culture)
Well we know that Asian Woman and White Men never really matched to begin with and for cultural reasons they don't work out. Probably all that Hollywood influence got to them and she wasn't the geisha he thought and he wasn't the handsome white prince..
Now the kids will suffer because of it.
Posted on 10-Oct-09 at 7:23 pm | Permalink
naname wrote:
Fixed:
Japanese Women DO NOT marry a non-Japanese guy. Non-Japanese guys, DO NOT marry an Japanese Women.
Posted on 15-Oct-09 at 1:52 am | Permalink
mariacastillostone wrote:
Okay – I'll warn my mum and dad who've been happily married for 29 years
Posted on 15-Oct-09 at 7:06 am | Permalink
LindaChan wrote:
Update: The dad has been released from Japanese jail, and he has not been indicted for child kidnapping. The police let him go after he promised not to take his kids back to the States. Full story: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/10/15/jap...
Posted on 15-Oct-09 at 7:48 am | Permalink
Mike70 wrote:
I heard that before they got a divorce in Japan, he convinced his wife into moving to the US where they could “start new lives” and work things out. Once they live there for only a few months, he filed for divorce without trying to work things out. I assume he was hoping the US laws would favor keeping the kids in the US but they lived in Japan and the kids grew up in Japan so it does not seem so strange that the wife felt betrayed and moved back there. I also hear this guy is already re-married. Can anyone confirm this?
Posted on 23-Oct-09 at 12:14 am | Permalink
Post a Comment