Pressure upped on Japan over child abductions

(NECN/ABC: Tokyo, Japan) – Mothers and fathers from various countries were at a Tokyo train station to recount their worst nightmare — the moment they realized their child had been abducted. “I received a call at work from a neighbor. Are you leaving Japan. Are you moving?” U.S. Navy Commander Paul Toland said. “By the time I got home, everything was gone, including my daughter Erika.” “I went to pick up my son from day care and he wasn’t there. He wasn’t there,” Franchesca Miyara said. “July 20, 2006 – the day I became nothing.” This week in Tokyo, Ambassadors from 8 countries called on Japan’s Justice Minister to address the issue of international child abduction. Japan is the only G-7 nation that has not signed the 1980 Hague Convention, which seeks to protect children across international borders. And Japanese law typically follows the tradition of sole-custody — one parent, usually the father, severs ties from their child. So, a parent may take his/her child(ren) from another country to Japan, attempting to cut them off from the other parent after a custody battle. “The problem is that parents don’t get to see their kids. And probably more importantly, kids lose contact with their parents,” co-director and producer of documentary film From the Shadows David Hearn said. Some parents try to reunite with their children by battling their cases in court. “It has been heart breaking. It dominates your whole life. I’ve spent maybe over $200,000 in attorney fees over the years,” Commander Toland said. Others resort to more desperate measures. “I went to the kitchen and grabbed this long very big knife and I went to the grandparents house and I demanded, I requested to them to give me back my son or I was going to cut off my neck,” Miyara said. In the United States, there are at least 73 recorded cases of abduction to Japan — this is more than in any other country and it involves over 100 children. That number is on the rise. Left-behind parents find ways to stay in touch with their own children. “The kind of gifts I always send to her, are gifts that I get around on my travels wherever I go,” Commander Toland said. “I buy something for her from that area so she knows that she was with me in my spirit when I was there.” And they hope their years of perseverance pay off. ABC’s Margaret Conley reports.