Divorced from reality? Japan’s joint custody reform divides parents
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Divorced from reality? Japan’s joint custody reform divides parents

May 10, 2026
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Yasuyuki Watanabe has not seen his daughter in more than 15 years. But he is not celebrating the landmark custody reform that Japan has just implemented. Until last month, Japanese law required one parent to hold sole custody of children after a divorce, leaving the other party reliant on informal goodwill or court-encouraged visitation to maintain a relationship with their child.

Divorced from reality? Japan’s joint custody reform divides parents

For Watanabe, 54, the result was a system seemingly designed to exclude him, where one parent could disappear from a...

South China Morning Post
South China Morning Post

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