mytest
UPDATES ON TWITTER: arudoudebito
Quick Update. CBS News’s EARLY SHOW on the Savoie Child Abduction Case, reenacting the US Consulate Fukuoka’s refusal to open the gates, guests Amy Savoie and Patrick Braden.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5352453n&tag=related;photovideo
Courtesy of Mark at Children’s Rights Network Japan. More updates in real time at
http://www.crnjapan.net/The_Japan_Childrens_Rights_Network/Welcome.html
Arudou Debito in Sapporo
7 comments on “CBS EARLY SHOW on the Savoie Child Abduction Case”
10:45 AM JST:
CNNj’s Kyung Lah just did a four-minuter on the Savoie Case, with a tack on how this may divide US-Japan relations. Mentions Fukuoka Consulate’s exclusion, interview with Shannon Higgins (eyewitness to the exclusion), interview with left-behind father Steve Christie on how Japan must change its family law to allow joint custody, and concludes with how Savoie has just been given another ten days of incarceration for criminal investigation.
I visited the US embassey her in Fukuoka yesterday, I spoke with a person associated with public relations, but they would only speak to someone from CNN,….
I’ve actually seen The Mother and His kids recently before around Fukuoka, They actually live in Yanagawa which is about 45 minutes on a express train from Fukuoka city. He should have planned this out better I guess, I would have helped him out by timming it, My daughter and son would be near by and cause a distraction thinking we were who they were looking for or I go to the door/gate and get buzzed in and the door is now open at this point so it’s easier for them to enter..
There are many things being said about this now, one is The case of a Tennessee man jailed in Japan for trying to snatch back his children from his estranged wife is not as clear-cut as it’s been made out to be, authorities here said Wednesday.
“The father, Christopher Savoie, apparently became a naturalized Japanese citizen four years ago, listing a permanent address in Tokyo, they said.
And while he and Noriko Savoie, a Japanese native, divorced in Tennessee, the two never annulled their marriage in Japan, Japanese officials said.
Also, the two children at the center of the case hold Japanese passports, they said”.
But if you’re Japanese, you’ve never heard of Savoie, because the story hasn’t been on a newscast or in the newspapers.
Based in Tokyo, among our first calls was to the local press in Fukuoka. The newspaper told us “This isn’t news.” When we asked if they would cover it because of the growing international interest, the paper flatly said, “No.”
That response is a window into the Japanese mindset of the privacy of the home, and helps explain the cultural and legal clash in which Savoie is trapped.
Invading into the domicile is considered taboo, where issues like domestic violence and child abuse still culturally remain private matters.
I mentioned earlier but I want to mention again. Please email or otherwise contact your local Congressman and Senator and tell them that the US government should take a stand on this issue for once and for all.
I really hope something good comes out of this.
I am happy to see so much media attention and I hope it continues on- maybe, MAYBE with enough pressure Japan will finally do something about this?
It’s horrifying to think he won’t be able to see his children again, even moreso that it is the likely outcome… For the father, “not being jailed” won’t be much of a resolution.
CNN’s Kyung Lah seems to be taking a personal interest in the issue. I don’t mind that at all, as long as the information she’s releasing to the world remains accurate and verified. From her blog:
September 30, 2009
Family man’s plight not news in Japan
Posted: 806 GMT
http://inthefield.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/30/family-mans-plight-not-news-in-japan/
Christopher Savoie’s case is playing out dramatically over the airwaves and in the blogosphere — an American man with sole legal custody of his young children, jailed in Japan for trying to bring his abducted children back to the U.S.
But if you’re Japanese, you’ve never heard of Savoie, because the story hasn’t been on a newscast or in the newspapers.
Based in Tokyo, among our first calls was to the local press in Fukuoka. The newspaper told us “This isn’t news.” When we asked if they would cover it because of the growing international interest, the paper flatly said, “No.”
That response is a window into the Japanese mindset of the privacy of the home, and helps explain the cultural and legal clash in which Savoie is trapped.
Invading into the domicile is considered taboo, where issues like domestic violence and child abuse still culturally remain private matters.
Japanese family law follows suit, hesitant to order families to recognize joint custody. It prefers to obey the cultural norm of the woman having primary custody, which often means the father never has any contact with the children. That would be unthinkable in a U.S. court, which sees joint custody as a matter of course in divorce.
The Americans I’ve interviewed in this story say they’re flabbergasted by Japan’s archaic and rigid laws. But in this culture, there’s no discussion about it. They don’t even consider it news.
Posted by: Kyung Lah
Filed under: General • Japan
ENDS
http://wtvf.images.worldnow.com/images/incoming/Investigates/savoie2.pdf
If you read the court documents (pages 121-122), it indicates that savoi was cheating on her. He married a month after the divorce to another lady and only made her come to America so he could keep the children. At first I felt sorry for Savoi, but now I see that he is just scum.
— Dunno if you read the whole court document that you cite, but on the same page:
(pg 121)
THE COURT: And she clearly understood that when she was
coming to the United States, she wasn’t coming
here to reconcile . And it was clear she came here knowing that
her husband was involved with another woman, and
she came here knowing that he wanted a divorce. .
As I can personally attest, divorces are usually messy affairs, and usually both sides come out looking somewhat scummy. But in this case, it’s clear that Noriko negotiated in bad faith and lied in court.
In any case, thanks for sending us that link. I’ve just blogged excerpts with commentary.
For official gov’t stance on these happenings, check out the link below.
http://travel.state.gov/family/abduction/country/country_501.html
He may have felt he had no other recourse as the gov’t more or less states here that if you have no chance if they are in Japan.
Though he made a mistake heading for the consulate…official stance is they won’t get involved.
He should have taken the ferry passage from Fukuoka to S. Korea. If they didn’t have a passport, he possibly could had himself and the kids deported from Korea to America.