An important part of the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction is ensuring that both parents have unencumbered access to their child. This is important not only for visitation cases brought under the Hague Convention but also return cases that end with the child remaining in Japan on the condition that the left behind parent has regular access through visitation. This visitation can often take the form of video calls or letters but many parents are most concerned with how they may be able to engage in direct visitation with their child in Japan.
The Japan Central Authority and Foreign Ministry work with two different centers to facilitate direct visitation in Japan by foreign parents: The Family Problems Information Center (FPIC) and International Social Service Japan (ISSJ). FPIC has offices in Tokyo as well as Osaka and other major cities in Japan. After an initial consultation and application, parents can work with FPIC to arrange a schedule for international visitation between a parent visiting Japan and his or her child. The visiting parent should inform FPIC a month before their arrival in Japan. Then, FPIC will work with the Japanese parent to propose a series of up to four visitation dates.
There are several types of visitation that FPIC helps facilitate. One of these is the Supporter/Accompany type visitation. Under this type of visitation, the visitation will take place at a neutral 3rd party location (such as the FPIC offices or an entertainment spot for children). These visitations will last for about 2 hours unless the child starts crying, in which case the visitation is terminated immediately. The timing of the parents’ arrival can be staggered so that the parents need not meet during this type of visitation.
A second type of visitation conducted by FPIC is the Consignment type. In this type of visitation, FPIC staff will pick up the child and deliver him or her to the visiting parent for a pre-determined amount of visitation that could be from a few hours to an overnight stay. The conditions of this visitation should be worked out beforehand in a written agreement.
If the parents and child are able to handle either the Supporter/Accompany type visitation or the Consignment type visitation without problem, FPIC staff may take a background role and operate mainly as a liaison between the parents, allowing the parents to work out their own visitation with minimum interference.