The joy of finally seeing his two boys again was followed by shock for Masaki Kubota, a 43-year-old Japanese father, when his two-year-old son looked at him in astonishment…
The joy of finally seeing his two boys again was followed by a shock for Masaki Kubota, a 43-year-old Japanese father, when his youngest, aged two, looked at him in astonishment, seeming to say: ” Who are you ?”
It was their first reunion since Mr. Kubota’s wife had abruptly cut ties with him a year earlier, taking their two children.
Very common in Japan, this type of total removal of children when a couple separates is expected to become rarer with the entry into force of a new law by 2026.
Adopted in May, this text will allow divorced couples to choose shared custody or not, an option that did not exist until now: after a separation, parental authority is assigned to a single party, the mother in most cases. case.
International pressure has been mounting for years on Japan to reform its family law. Cases concerning dual national children have been highly publicized, notably that of Frenchman Vincent Fichot.
During the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Mr. Fichot led a hunger strike in the Japanese capital to try to obtain the right to see his two boys taken away by their Japanese mother three years earlier. But all his efforts have been in vain so far.
– “Like a slave” –
Mr. Kubota managed to obtain in court the right to see his two children again, but not for more than one or two hours each…
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