Details emerge in case of child abduction
Japanese citizen Christopher Savoie
CNN has posted a new article about the abduction of Christopher Savoie’s children by his Japanese ex-wife with some very important details they left out of the original article:
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.
The original reports had described Christopher was an “American,” but he would have been required by law to surrender his American passport upon obtaining Japanese citizenship. If he is a naturalized Japanese citizen with a marriage to Noriko on the books in Japan, we no longer have a clear cut case of an evil woman living in America who simply stole Christopher’s children from their home country and brought them to an alien country. This is now a case of American courts being involved in a child custody battle between two Japanese citizens. As he naturalized a mere 4 years ago, it sounds like his family only lived in the United States for a short period of time.
Some anonymous comments have claimed that Savoie brought his family to the United States so he could use the U.S. legal system to get a divorce that guaranteed shared custody of the children and prevented his ex-wife from taking the children back to Japan (a country that may be more familiar to them than the United States). Given the lack of details about this case, it’s unclear who we should believe.
[Update: Mainichi's English edition has come through with an article that fills in a lot of details (hat tip to Stereo):
“Court records in Tennessee indicate the Savoies lived in Japan from 2001 to 2008, and that Savoie obtained Japanese citizenship.”
[...]
“Savoie moved back to the United States in January 2008 and Noriko Savoie and the children moved here in June of that year. Divorce proceedings began soon after.”
[...]
“He first asked a court in Tennessee to block a possible abduction in October 2008 during divorce proceedings, and a Williamson County judge ordered Noriko Savoie to turn the children’s passports over to the court clerk.”
[...]
“Soon after their divorce was final in January 2009, he again asked for help from the courts, seeking primary custody of the children or an assurance that his ex-wife would not flee with them.”
[...]
“Savoie has remarried. His wife, Amy, said she understood that her husband could be facing serious charges.”
The not-so-pretty truth that the American media failed to look into has come to the surface. I think it’s pretty much assured that the Japanese media will not be following CNN’s example of declaring Christopher a “hero.”
[End of Update: read on for the rest of the original post.]
On a CNN blog post, Kyung Lah, has written about the lack of Japanese media attention given to the case and how Americans are frustrated with Japan’s “archaic” laws:
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.
Meanwhile, NBC’s “Today Show” aired an interview with Savoie’s current wife, whom he apparenly married soon after divorcing Noriko in January. She describes Noriko as a bad parent:
It’s good that the international media is giving some attention to the issue of Japan’s stance on child abduction, but I think they should have been a bit more careful and chosen to focus their outrage on a less complicated example.
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
