Japan has had a long legal tradition of awarding only sole custody in the event of the dissolution of a marriage: this is deeply rooted in the traditional koseki family registry system. Koseki means “membership of a household” and is oriented towards the household as a group rather than to individual status. Therefore, in the koseki system, a child must be attached to one household or the other in the case of divorce, and this remains the current policy in Japan today.

With custody granted to only one parent (almost always the holding parent and usually the mother), there is an epidemic of children growing up without the financial and emotional involvement of the non-custodial parent (usually the father). In Japan, 90% of divorcing women assume sole custody, with 70% of non-custodial parents having no contact with their children post-divorce. This complex legal territory is further complicated by issues involving protections from domestic violence and child abduction. Yet, rather than providing an ethical basis for the care and protection of women and the rights of children, it is widely observed—especially from an international perspective—that the current legal framework ends up incentivising child abduction as a strategy to obtain custodianship.

The koseki-driven custodial system further exacerbates an underreported crisis in Japan for single-parent homes and parental estrangement from children. It is estimated that as many as 1 in 6 children live in poverty in Japan, with the majority of those being in single parent homes. Furthermore, 3 million children in Japan are estranged from a parent and blocked from access to that parent.

With domestic and international efforts underway to reform Japan’s sole custody policy, this panel seeks to assess the ethics and care of the current legal landscape and will consider such issues as single-parent homes, child welfare, domestic violence protection, the role of the father, and the rights of the child to be raised by both parents in the case of separation.

Biographies

Grant Black
Chuo University, Japan

Professor Grant Black is a professor in the Faculty of Commerce at Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan, where he has taught Global Skills and Global Issues since 2013. Grant is engaged in diverse roles as a global manager, systems builder, executive leader, and university professor. His research and teaching areas include global management skills, intercultural intelligence (CQ), and organisational management. He also has taught Japanese Management Theory at J. F. Oberlin University (Japan), and a continuing education course in the Foundations of Japanese Zen Buddhism at Temple University Japan. Previously, he was Chair of the English Section at the Center for Education of Global Communication at the University of Tsukuba where he served in a six-year post in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. He holds a BA Highest Honors in Religious Studies from the University of California - Santa Barbara, United States; an MA in Japanese Buddhist Studies from the University of California Los Angeles, United States; and a Doctor of Social Science (DSocSci) from the Department of Management in the School of Business at the University of Leicester, United Kingdom. Professor Black is a Chartered Manager (CMgr), the highest status that can be achieved in the management profession in the United Kingdom. In 2018, he was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). Professor Grant is President of Black Inc. Consulting, Japan, a Tokyo-based firm specialising in international and intercultural project management, communication projects, and executive leadership and training. He is the director of the Nippon Academic Management Institute (NAMI) and the author of Education Reform Policy at a Japanese Super Global University: Policy Translation, Migration and Mutation (Routledge, 2022). He serves as a Vice-President for the International Academic Forum (IAFOR).

Ayako Harada
Nagoya University, Japan

Dr Ayako Harada is Professor of Sociology of Law at Nagoya University Graduate School of Law, Japan. She earned her doctoral degree (LL.D) from Kyoto University in 2007. Throughout her academic career, she has been engaged in research on children and family law issues involving child abuse and neglect, child custody, and adoption. She has published ample research on this topic, including ““Family Reorganization in the Japanese Family Conciliation System: Resolving Divorce Disputes Involving Minor Children”, ” 33(1) International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 75-103, 2019. In 2023, her book entitled Protecting the Children's Right to Be Heard: Children's Right in Family Justice System was released, for which she received the Onaka Ikuo Family Law Research Award in 2024.

Timothy Langley
Langley Esquire, Japan

With 40+ years of experience in public affairs in Japan, Timothy Langley is the founder and driving force behind Langley Esquire, K.K. He leads the firm’s government and corporate outreach, advances stakeholder engagement, and crafts public affairs strategies for company clients. Timothy Langley holds law degrees from Georgetown University and the University of Denver in the United States, as well as from Tohoku University, Japan. He combines a comprehensive understanding of international law with a unique perspective gained from decades working in and alongside the Japanese government. Langley was the first foreign national to work in the National Diet, serving as a policy aide to former Foreign Minister Nakayama Taro. He has developed and maintained contacts with senior politicians in all major parties since. Langley has served as a political attaché for United States presidents and diplomats when they visit Japan, coordinating meetings with senior figures in the Japanese government. He has also served as General Counsel and Director of Public Affairs for Apple Computer and General Motors Asia-Pacific, supporting their operations in Japan. Companies ranging from startups to Fortune 100 firms have relied on his expertise to navigate Japan’s political and legal environment.

Noriko Odagiri
Tokyo International University, Japan

Noriko Odagiri is Professor of Clinical Psychology at Tokyo International University where she teaches clinical psychology within the university’s counselling course. She holds a PhD in Psychology and is a certified clinical psychologist, a certificated public psychologist, and has been as an ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) mediator for the Hague Child Abduction Convention in Japan since 2014. She has served as a Visiting Professor at Willamette University, United States from 2011 to 2013. She participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) arranged by the United States Department of State, visiting Washington DC, Florida, and Oregon for research on the legal practice of international child abduction in December 2016. Currently, she provides therapy to divorced or separated parents who have difficulty with childcare and parent-child relationships, and counsels children experiencing parental disputes. Additionally, she provides co-parenting programs after divorce, creating an app for participants in this program, and runs a visitation centre with a lawyer in Tokyo.

Rokuro Tabuchi
Sophia University, Japan

Professor Rokuro Tabuchi is a professor in the Faculty of Human Sciences at Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan, where he has taught sociology since 2007. At Sophia University, he also serves as Associate Director of the Island Sustainability Institute, which was launched in 2022 to harness the transdisciplinary expertise of various partners to enable valuable research and related activities to be undertaken in collaboration with island partners in Japan and overseas, supporting island sustainability for the benefit of all. His research and teaching areas include family sociology, demography, and sustainability studies. He was a key member of the international research project on Family Patterns and Family Change in East Asia in the 2000s, the results of which culminated in the co-edited book "Changing Families in Northeast Asia" (Sophia University Press, 2012) and other publications. He was a principal investigator of the 2018 National Family Research of Japan (NFRJ) conducted by the National Family Research Committee of the Japan Society of Family Sociology. He has served on the boards of the Japan Society of Family Sociology and the Japan Sociological Society. His most recent research areas include an investigation of sustainable community development in remote islands and other disadvantaged areas.

About the Presenter(s)
-Professor Grant Black is a professor in the Faculty of Commerce at Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan, where he has taught Global Skills and Global Issues since 2013.
-Dr Ayako Harada is Professor of Sociology of Law at Nagoya University Graduate School of Law, Japan.
-With 40+ years of experience in public affairs in Japan, Timothy Langley is the founder and driving force behind Langley Esquire, K.K.
-Noriko Odagiri is Professor of Clinical Psychology at Tokyo International University where she teaches clinical psychology within the university’s counselling course.
-Professor Rokuro Tabuchi is a professor in the Faculty of Human Sciences at Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan, where he has taught sociology since 2007.

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