‘Heartbreaking’: Penny Wong condemns abduction of Australian children in Japan

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has labelled the abduction of Australian children in Japan “heartbreaking” as Tokyo begins reforms to a century-old sole custody system that allowed parents to legally kidnap their kids.

In her first interview on the issue since The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and 60 Minutes revealed last year that more than 80 Australian children had been abducted by their Japanese parent since 2004, Wong said the situation was “incredibly distressing”.

“I think a parent’s heartbreak always cuts deep,” she said. “For anyone who meets them and talks with them and understands it – if you’re a parent yourself, you always think about how you would feel in that situation.”

Wong said she was determined to lift Australia’s advocacy following the revelations by this masthead over the past three years, culminating in Australia leading nine foreign governments lobbying Japan to change its laws in an unprecedented intervention in the domestic jurisdiction of a close diplomatic, military and economic partner.

In May, the Japanese parliament passed laws that will allow parents to seek joint custody of their children for the first time.

The sole custody laws were designed to protect women suddenly fleeing domestic violence in the early 20th century but have been used for decades by Japanese men and women to cut one parent off from all contact with their children, including details of their health, education and location.

Wong acknowledged the changes have “come far too late” for many Australian parents.

“This is a big step for Japan. We will keep advocating on behalf of Australian parents who are in such a difficult situation,” she said.

Mother of two Catherine Henderson, who met Wong in Canberra in August, had previously criticised the Australian government for not condemning Japan earlier despite dozens of Australian kids, including her own, being abducted over the past two decades.

Catherine Henderson (left) and Japanese MP Mizuho Umemura in Canberra in August 2023.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“I hear that. If I were a parent who hadn’t seen my kids, I’d want to see as much as I could,” Wong said.

“All I can say, from my perspective, I gave this a great deal of priority in terms of my interactions.”

Wong said she raised the issue with two Japanese foreign ministers, Yoko Kamikawa and Yoshimasa Hayashi, while Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus lobbied Japanese Justice Minister Ken Saito. Australia’s ambassador to Japan, Justin Hayhurst, has also led negotiations in Tokyo.

The deputy secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Masahiko Shibayama, said Japanese society was in the middle of an “epoch-making change” to family law.

“We are now on the edge of great reform,” he said.

Shibayama had to wage a year-long internal battle to convince his party to transform the laws that have their roots in the honour codes of Samurai-era Japan. Now he believes Japanese society must change to stop a culture of abductions driven by families preferring to save face by cutting off all contact during disputes, rather than mediate conflict.

“Fighting lawmakers against such a traditional irrational Japanese rule was very, very hard,” he said. “We have to continue to change the Japanese way of thinking.”

Masahiko Shibayama, deputy secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.Credit: Jack Donohoe

The system has severed the relationships of hundreds of thousands of children with their Japanese parents, as well as thousands from the United States, Europe, Australia and other countries around the world.

In April, US congressman Christopher Smith, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, hand-delivered a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington that said 500 abducted American children “was an open wound” that threatened to derail the country’s economic and security ties.

“These actions often occur against pre-existing court orders and in some cases, with the passport assistance of the Japanese government,” he said. “Regrettably, the abduction of American children to your country remains an ongoing human rights crisis that cannot be overlooked.”

Australian father Dan White has not held his two-year-old daughter Yui since his then-partner took her during a family holiday to Japan last year.

“It’s consumed me 24/7. It’s the only thing on my mind,” he said. “Yui just made everybody’s world a better place to be in. She gave me a whole new purpose of what it means to be a man, to be an adult, and now to be a dad. She gave me a reason to get up in the morning to go to work.”

White has been granted a 10-minute video call each week with Yui since he first spoke to this masthead last year.

“That is everything. I’m blessed in a way compared to a lot of the other parents that haven’t managed to get that,” he said. “But in the grand scheme of things, how can you build a relationship with your child from 10 minutes a week from a video call when she’s in another country?”

The only contact Dan White has with daughter Yui is a 10-minute video call each week.Credit: Jamila Toderas

Randy Kavanagh, an Australian parent who teaches English to primary school children in Gunma, three hours outside Tokyo, said attitudes in Japan had begun changing since he went public with his story.

Kavanagh has been able to attend some of his daughter’s school events this year and is now receiving her school reports for the first time since his daughter Anna was taken in 2018.

“Anna’s principal put her arm around me and said, ‘Never give up, Randy’,” he said.

Randy Kavanagh teaches English to children similar in age to his abducted daughter.Credit: Jack Donohoe

But he worries the legislative change will not be enough to stop abductions in a country in which custody rulings are rarely enforced and Interpol missing person notices for children are ignored.

Another Australian parent from Adelaide, who asked not to be identified because they are in the middle of a legal dispute, lodged an airport watch list request this week to prevent their daughter from being suddenly taken out of Australia by their Japanese partner.

“In Australia, people don’t just disappear, but in Japan, it’s legal for them to do so,” they said. “It’s unbelievable.”

Kavanagh criticised the delays in implementing the new laws which will not come into force until 2026.

“It’s the last dash to the finish line to abduct your child before the law comes into effect,” he said.

Australian father Scott Ellis said he still has “zero contact with my beautiful children”. Ellis’ children Mera and Telina, were taken to Japan from his Queensland home four years ago.

“I just posted my daughter’s 16th birthday card today. The new joint custody laws in Japan won’t take proper effect until 2026. My daughter will turn 18 then. All too late for me and my children,” he said. “Devastated.”

Shibayama urged dozens of Australian parents who have missed countless birthdays and holidays with their children not to give up.

“Please make hope for meeting your children,” he said.