Episode 3: The Law Changes

Japan’s custody law has changed. But what does that mean for families who have already spent years apart?

In this extended episode, I follow the records behind the reform, the families its headline figures overlook, and the gap between parental authority and actual contact.

For my daughter, adulthood had already changed the question. What could reform offer us now?

Episode transcript available by 27 October.

Correction: The visitation figures cited in this episode at timestamp 9.40 cover divorced and never-married single-parent households combined, not divorced households alone. For divorced households alone, the figures are 32.7% and 48.4%, respectively.

10:30 — The ABC also reported that Tomoyama’s former partner denied her account of abuse.

Source-document guide (free PDF on the episode post): https://www.patreon.com/Paper_Sings/posts/episode-3-law-173182920

Chapters
00:00 Opening: The Law Changes
01:46 Document 1: The Foreign Minister's letter
03:42 Document 2: Australia's reform submission
05:14 Document 3: International families and the figures
09:30 Document 4: Visitation and family experiences
11:10 Document 5: Practical questions about reform
13:00 Document 6: The Ministry of Justice guide
16:19 Adulthood and the information question
18:23 Bringing the documents together
19:47 Next episode: DFAT's response arrives