Kyodo News, Sept.17, by Alison Brady

"Experts identify several factors in Japan that have created a haven for parents who kidnap. First, Japan is not party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, a civil legal mechanism to deter parents from abducting their children to other countries.

More than 75 countries worldwide have affected the treaty, thereby agreeing to return any child abducted from his or her country of habitual residence to a party country in violation of the left-behind parent's custodial rights, according to the U.S. Department of State website.

Another factor is that parental kidnapping is not considered a crime under Japanese law and Japan refuses to extradite parents who have kidnapped their own children and face arrest in other countries.

Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare statistics show that since 1976, the time of the Hague treaty's inception, the rate of marriage between Japanese nationals and foreign spouses has increased more than 800 percent.

As a result of the increasing number of international marriages, more than 21,000 children are born each year in Japan to couples of mixed Japanese and non-Japanese descent. Add to that the number of children born to Japanese who live abroad and are married to a non-Japanese.

What becomes of these bi-national children when the parents separate or divorce?"

Ms Brady states the problem much more clearly than I ever could. And on top of the problems already inherent in dealing with a foreign government, there are also those in dealing with our own.

Just this week, Jeff asked if I would help him find out how to get copies of the police report he filed when Naoko did not bring Chloe back. Thus far, I've spent aproximately 4 hours being shuffled from one court department to another, and even between courts. I used to think how much easier this would be if Jeff could afford an attorney. And then I found story after story of left-behind parents who not only had an American attorney, but one in Japan as well. Sometimes it just feel so hopeless.

Chloe's Grandma