the christopher savoie case
Since this topic has been getting quite a bit of thought among the foreign population in Japan, I thought I might as well post some of the thoughts that have been generated...
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Ripped from mixi: (http://mixi.jp/view_bbs.pl?id=46848413&comm_id=19163)
えもたん
Wow. I read about the case today in detail, in Saturday's Japan Times. Shockingly stupid on both counts of the parents. I truly pity the kids.
Here is a short summary, with out a lot of the details:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20091003a2.html
Here is just one interesting legal twist:
Apparently the couple never filed for divorce in Japan, so the divorce hasn't officially happened.
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/01/crimesider/entry5356030.shtml
In Japan, you must wait 6 months after the divorce, before you can legally marry another person.
Christopher however remarried a mere 1 month after the divorce was done in America. In fact, he was cheating on ex-wife Noriko during the divorce, hence her hefty divorce settlement where she was originally awarded primary custody of the kids.
Another interesting legal twist is that according to his Japanese lawyer Christopher Savoie, who apparently speaks fluent Japanese, had attained Japanese citizenship in 2005. Well folks, in case you do not realise this, US and Japan only allow ONE citizenship. As soon as he had gotten the Japanese one, legally he MUST have given up his American one. Why he moved 3 YEARS later to the US without an American passport is beyond me... Anyways if he is truly a Japanese citizen, then shouldn't he have to follow Japanese laws?
Here are some more interesting points of the case:
Noriko wanted to divorce in Japan before coming to America, Christopher convinced her not to, and they decided to start a new life in America with their kids. A few months later he gave her divorce papers. Also he was having an affair his new soon to be wife at the time of the divorce.
The divorce courts in America were fairly generous to Noriko(though it seems she felt mistreated by them for some reason), granting her $800000USD in cash as well as monthly payments for child support etc. Moreover, she got PRIMARY custody of the kids. The catch for her is divorce settlement was that she had to share the kids, and thus live in the States. According to a local news in Tennessee, the judge said that in original divorce settlement Christopher agreed to let the Noriko take the kids to Japan for vacation.
She decided to do so, he tried to stop her through the courts and judge said too bad and gave her and the kids their passports. She had her summer vacation with the kids, then came back. Then Noriko somehow lost her mind, because she went back illegally with her kids 2 weeks later. At this point, she had broken her legal agreement, essentially kidnapping her kids to Japan. The American courts now sided with the husband giving him full custody and issued a warrant for Noriko's arrest should she ever come back to Tennessee.
After a few weeks later, Christopher comes back to Japan(I wonder what passport he used?) and proceeded to kidnap his kids from their mother on their way to school. He later gets arrested before entering the US consulate, and history no unfolds...
So my question to you is, What is your take on the case?
<1> AlvinXvv
ooh wow
I had no clue that story went that deep, however I believe Noriko knew that japan laws does not enforce child custody to foreign parents. So therefore a Japanese native can just take there children back to japan where they are protected by the japan's laws. Sad to say this sort of thing has been going on for years. I've read so many similar stories that all end with there children lost in japan somewhere nearly almost always with the mother that is a citizen of japan.
Another story I read where a European dad paid his ex-Japanese wife $100,000 just to visit and see his daughter for the first time. The money was sent, but the daughter or her was nowhere to be found. However there is some break through were the foreign father gets to see his children but only after years have passed., I believe she turned 18 and searched to contact her father a truly touching moment.
For me personally I have no problems with international marriages, but when too people became hateful and deceitful to one another. The children are the ones to always to suffer, I believe they only considered there own wants and needs before the children.
If I had children I would never take them away from there mother and also i would not want there mother to take them away from me.
But I know not everyone shares my thoughts.
<2> 2009年10月04日 02:01
えもたん
>AlvinXvv
That is really sad about the European dad. I am glad some fathers are able to be re-united eventually.
I truly believe Japan should sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, to help alleviate some of these cross-cultural legal issues.
>> however I believe Noriko knew that japan laws does not enforce child custody to foreign parents.
You make a valid point, however remember he is supposedly is a Japanese citizen, so foreign parent issue is moot.
Thanks for your thoughts!
<3> 2009年10月04日 02:11
ダレン
i think the kids are lucky to escape having to live in the US.
<4> 2009年10月04日 02:20
ルーク
The American media is not presenting all of the facts, and it's terrible. The News SHOULD be neutral, unbiased, trustworthy, and expected to cover everything.
They're omitting all these important facts, so that every blind American patriot will side with the father.
After reading everything that's not presented, I side with the mother.
<6> 2009年10月04日 02:35
yonyon
Just a side note: 6 month wait before re-marriage is only applicable to females in order to make "clear" who is the father when she bears a kid. This old-school law doesn't applied to the husband.
(Apparently Japan still doesn't know how to do paternal DNA tests... :( )
Still, marring one month after the divorce is pretty sad...
<7> 2009年10月04日 10:17
AlvinXvv
>ルーク
Even having all the facts, they were living and soon after divorced in America. The mother claims she would stay in America. But later changes her mind and takes the children back to Japan without anyone's notice, his children just vanish. She just took their children in secret back to japan, I believe that to be deceitful..
She too had equal rights to the children in America, but those court laws are not recognized in japan. How is it fair to the father? I can understand a father not supporting his children or not wanting to be with them, but that is not the case he generally cares for them,
I wish I had a father that would travel half around the world to come see me.
The court proceedings would be far worse in japan for him....had they gotten a divorce there.
In all actually international marriages involving children are much more equal to "both parents" in America's legal systems.
<8> 2009年10月06日 09:58
千望詩
First, an interesting take in the Japanese media:
"わが子『奪還』の米人元夫 略取容疑、日本で逮捕" >> http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/world/news/CK2009093002000225.html
This is an interesting case for a few different reasons. First, there seems to be a media firestorm in the States on this issue, while here in Japan it’s rather quiet. I would wonder whether Savoie tipped the press about this issue before his arrival in Japan, just to see if he could get his way by using media-generated pressure. I think that’s pretty crappy: he’s well-off, and by that virtue alone his voice is heard louder in the press; I sigh at the agenda-setting bias that this has generated.
We haven’t heard his (ex-)wife’s full side of the story (perhaps because she’s a foreigner?), and everything up to now seems to be leaning in Savoie’s favor. In early reports, we heard a few comments that he has a temper, and that she has a temper; and what should have been settled privately has spilled into the international arena.
Debido Ardou offers an interesting point:
“However, with the Savoie case, Japan has earned a worldwide reputation as a safe haven for abductions. This is, given the inhuman North Korean kidnappings of Japanese, an ironic position to be in. ”
I think that many laws in Japan that deal with custody issues are rather antiquated by Western standards; further, they are purely inadequate at dealing with international issues which may arise. I think that if the events of this story help highlight these issues to Japanese lawmakers, and foster a bit of change in the system here, it’s fine.
Should Savoie get his kids back? Personally, as it sounds that he’s Japanese citizenship as well, he should have considered the legal ramifications of his actions more deeply. If he’s not considered as being divorced here, was he really “abducting” his kids from school? Why didn’t his wife get a restraining order against him in Japan, if she truly thought she/her children were in danger? Why did she flee in the first place--because she knew that absconding with her children would create a mess, but a mess in her favor? Before making hasty judgments I’d like to hear her side of the story.. .but as I’m sure she considers she’s done nothing wrong, I doubt we’ll ever hear it.
<9> 2009年10月06日 10:27
千望詩
....but honestly, this thing sounded like some schoolyard thing: two kids buy a teddy bear together. One decides she wants it, so she takes it and runs off somewhere; the guy runs in pursuit so he can steal it back. But in this case, it's not a teddy bear: there are two young children who are being whisked around everywhich way. I almost wonder whether the government should place them in a temporary home and shelter them away from the ugliness their parents are dragging up; at least that way they might be able to continue their studies, etc. with as little external (i.e. parental) emotional interference.
7>>
If they'd gotten a divorce here, (in Japan), I’m sure she would be forthwith awarded custody, as per Japanese “tradition”; the fact that he didn’t file for divorce here is perhaps one of the things going in his favor, in terms of getting his kids back. That she took an oath in the States not to abscond, and that she reneged on that oath, is unconscionable; however, we don’t really know the entire depth of circumstances. Perhaps she felt for some reason that her life was threatened, and that the best way for she and her children to live was in Japan. Or perhaps she knew of the legal tangle her action would create (a simple Google search would yield as much), and decided to take her chances by separating fully from her (ex-)husband and getting what she wanted: a life with her children in Japan.
3>>
Hmmf. I wonder how many half-Kiwi/half-Japanese kids have endured a similar situation. Beyond that, I thank you for edifying us with your international outlook.
<10> 2009年10月06日 13:24
Jack
8, 9 >
Nice to see you!
I get the feeling that both of them are kind of bad people. The more I read, the more I think it is likely that both of them are at fault. But, you're right; we're not hearing much about her side of the story here. Which is unfortunate.
That said, however, Japan does need to get with the times and sync their custody system up with the rest of the world's. This isn't 1853 and they do not exist in a complete vacuum anymore. I personally know a man whose children were kidnapped by his Japanese wife. He did not see nor hear from them for more than a decade. It was an absolute travesty. If this case serves as some kind of impetus for positive change, so much the better. I hope that it does.
And, as usual, you don't need to dignify the gleefully semi-literate and blindly anti-American hipsters with anything other than mild disdain. Their bigotry only reflects poorly on themselves and they are in the (unfortunately vocal) minority.
<11> 2009年10月06日 15:45
千望詩
Sorry to hear of the trial your acquaintance endured; I think that's a miserable experience, for a loving parent to be separated from his/her daughter or son.
With respect to what's occurring here: I would agree that Japan should start considering certain aspects of its law in order to meet the times. In essence, that was one of the stated goals of the whole "citizen judge" system: to raise the public's awareness of, and confidence in, the law. However, under the current system, it seems that (a) the majority of Japan's citizens are unconcerned with the impact of law in their own society, insofar as a particular aspect of law doesn't affect them, and (b) the majority of Japanese seem to be quite content with accepting blindly the advice, guidance, and words from the omniscient legal Gods- -lawyers and judges- -whose advice is infallible and holy. Decisions that are made in this country can never be questioned (c.f. recent questions arising about the supposed guilty who have been sentenced, and it turns out they're not "not guilty", but completely innocent- -and the ensuing cognitive dissonance within the public). (Also c.f. the book, ｻﾙでもできる弁護士業)
Here, I am looking a bit broader and past the issue of child abduction (especially as, here, I am sure that Savoie will be saying, "I was just taking them back--she abducted them first!" Tut-tut) to the clash of differing legal systems. I would offer that, in a sense, this is drawing out another issue of Neo-imperialism, where a handful of Americans are outraged by a different way of thinking. (To this end, I wonder: who the hell were those people protesting outside the Japanese embassy in D.C.?) Japan, it seems, has been in the press quite a bit recently with respect to international relations: First it was the Taiji dolphin cull; then the PM's sentiments about trying to alter the way Japan does business and other things with America. For Taiji, people were saying that Japan's laws, policies and attitudes were backward and old; for the second, a bit of a backpeddle was made (blame the translators- -they hadn't understood the PM's true words). But the fact of the matter is, the American press has its sights set on Japan. I'm not quite sure why.
The thing is: American law isn't perfect (c.f. "Proxy wedding means Marine's widow, baby unwelcome" [AP] http://bit.ly/4hobCn; also consider that "common law" marriages are perhaps a better way of doing things, though certain pitfalls would still exist; consider as well that the US has ignored UN resolutions that have chided the nation for various practices; America essentially ignores said resolutions because: it can). Americans are charmed and wooed by TV shows like The Practice, and Law & Order into believing that ours is the best damned legal system on the face of the earth--but, in truth, nothing's perfect, and each society should be free to determine its own standards...to an extent. (I find it ironic how we, as Americans, enjoy singing about how free we are--but how our freedom gives us the right to impose on others our views on how they should be.)
And that "extent" is a pretty tricky area. I believe that the citizens of each nation should hear of the issues that citizens of other nations are facing, and should then consider rationally what direction they wish their own nation to go. And these things become laws- -or repealed laws.
Should the koseki (family register) system be improved, to allow for things like dual-custody of kids? From my perspective, yes. How? Good question. It's a question of altering or doing away with a tradition that has existed for ages, and compelling a people to reconsider how to define what is a family. (The whole "surrogate mother" issue would also have to be examined here as well.) But, barring some sort of settlement between the parents in the Savoie case, I don't foresee this issue resolving quickly by any means.
<12> 2009年10月06日 16:45
千望詩
Final quick word, as I think this sums up much of my sentiment:
(From the AP, bit.ly/1DwNEP)
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Crafton said she felt sorry for Christopher Savoie but did not approve of his actions.
"If he's really thinking of the kids, he shouldn't be doing some dramatic movie-type thing like snatching the kids," Crafton said. "He could have made other arrangements. He speaks Japanese very well and has Japanese citizenship."
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Quite true. He could've petitioned here as well; why didn't he? He certainly has the money to build a good case...or perhaps he feared his infidelity would be a point against him?
<13> 2009年10月08日 16:04
千望詩
Interesting take on the issue of joint custody in Japan:
"Divorced fathers in Japan fight to see children"
(http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iY2EqFFCeGoe1e7-f-0DF-85WBEwD9B6DCL00)
<14> 2009年10月09日 01:12
♪メガロン♪
Yeah, this definitely puts a new light on the case. Until now, all I had read was the American media's version, which painted the situation as "a poor American victim trying desperately to save his kids from his horrible Japanese kidnapping ex-wife". Of course, this is the same media who told us that the 2016 Olympics were "in the bag" for Chicago before the votes were even cast.
I'm not saying I completely side with Noriko, but at least I know now that she is not the monster she's been portrayed to be, nor do I think Christopher is a 100% innocent victim.
<15> 2009年10月09日 09:53
千望詩
To be fully honest, when I first started following this story, I thought: how dare she? And I immediately sided with the gaijin guy. A few minutes later, as I started reading and really thinking, I noticed that there were many things that just didn’t add up- -and what really started changing my perspective was my Spidey Sense tingling at the language that was being tossed around by the American media to describe different events. It was then that I realized: they’re agenda setting and siding with the poor rich whitey who just wants his kids back. I immediately started thinking: where is Noriko’s story?
Savoie seems to have been playing around on Noriko for a while (not sure why, because she’s quite beautiful- -Savoie’s new wife is a bit of a dog). I’m thinking that Noriko had enough of everything and probably had googled for similar situations, and knew that her actions would toss things into legal limbo for quite a bit- -in which time she could raise her children in Japan. I’m curious as to whether she had foreseen whether Savoie would follow her to Japan and attempt to re-abduct their children; in any case, neither party really seems to be considering the best interest of their children, and both parties seem at fault.
My prediction: the Japanese will hold Savoie in jail as long as legally possible and let him go. I am fairly certain that while he says he is feeling broken down whilst in jail, his hatred toward Noriko is mounting, and his resolve toward exacting some sort of retribution is only sharpening all the more. Ultimately, I think the cops will release him; he will assert that he was not abducting the children, but merely taking them home from school, as he is their legal father/guardian in Japan, and as he has Japanese citizenship; no charges will be filed. The cops will wait for the last minute to give him a period to attempt to cool off.
Noriko will either (a) be gone by the time he gets out, and will be relocated to another place entirely--in which case Savoie will have to make the decision whether to track her down himself (or, as he’s a millionaire, to hire someone to track her down), or to return to the States, or (b) continue life as usual, but in the meantime file a complaint or get a restraining order against Savoie, and wait for him to try and make sure there are witnesses around to have enough evidence so that Savoie goes to prison for kidnapping. In the meantime, she will probably not file for divorce just yet, as it might be in her best interest. She’ll try to be the best mother she can and keep her nose clean, so that when she files for divorce and custody, she gets both.
posted by tim @ 09:53
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