User:Remythechef/Family law in Japan

Dispute Resolution [Edit]
Japan has a system of family courts (家庭裁判所, Katei Saibansho) which have jurisdiction in the first instance over all intra-familial disputes, including divorce and child custody. Family courts employ a mediation system. These family courts will review any dispute, even non-legal ones, but will only accept them from individuals with a familial relationship. As a result, court mediation is often unaccessible to same-sex couples, since same-sex marriage is not recognized in Japan. Another issue regarding the mediation system is the lack of professionalism from the mediators. Officially, the mediation committee consists of a judge and two mediators. However, the judge is often not present and leaves the responsibility to the mediators, who are not professionally trained and only have to be older than 40 years old.

Child Adoption [New]
Child adoption in Japan is relatively uncommon, mainly due to lack of government support and legal trouble encountered from the child's birth parents. In Japan, even if a parent is legally unfit to see their child, the parent is still the child's legal guardian and their consent is required for everyday decisions, such as the child's education or field trips that may pose safety concerns. This is an issue even for parents looking to adopt because a child adopted over the age of 6 will still be registered in their birth parent's koseki, as written in Article 817-2 of the Japanese Civil Code. As a result, if parents want a special adoption, where the child is registered under the new parent's koseki, the child has to be under the age of 6.

There are two main places to apply to for adoption. The first is through the local Child Guidance Center, which is a government agency. In 2010, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child noted that the CGC staff did not seem to be properly trained to work in child services and did not seem to be promoting adoption. In 2016, the Child Welfare Act was revised to explicitly state that the CGCs were responsible for the adoption process. Furthermore, when adopting through government agencies, prospective parents must be Japanese married couples. The second is through a religious adoption agency. These private agencies are allowed to charge a fee for the adoption process, as opposed to the process being free through the government.

Surrogacy [New]
Although there is no law banning birth by surrogacy in Japan, there is a strong stigma against it. For example, the Health Ministry has attempted to ban surrogacy before and has been banned by the Japanese Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology for ethical reasons since 2003. As a result, Japanese couples tend to seek surrogate mothers abroad. This leads to the possibility of the child being stateless because the child must be registered in the koseki to be a Japanese citizen. Since the mother is not the child's birth mother and the father is not the birth mother's legal husband, the legal status of the child may end up in question. A famous case of this issue is that of the Japanese actress, Aki Mukai, who had twins through an American surrogate mother in 2003 and Mukai's sons only had American citizenship. This resulted in a series of court cases that ultimately culminated in the Supreme Court concluding that surrogacy was ethically wrong and Mukai had to adopt her sons to be considered their mother.