Japan has jailed Middle Tennessee man Christopher Savoie for trying to take back his kidnapped children from Noriko Savoie who kidnapped them and took them to Japan. There are many stories out there of Japanese who have a falling out with their spouse, kidnaps the kids and then will then try to deny all access to the kids. In the case where the marriage is with a non-Japanese usually the kids are kidnapped and taken back to Japan and this is what happened in this case. There are heart breaking stories out there where the shut out parent will desperately try to maintain a relationship with kids but the kidnapper parent usually with the help of their parents effectively cuts off all contact. Usually the shut out parent has no options for getting their kids back but in this case Christopher Savoie decided to do something about it. Good for him.
Christopher flew to Fukuoka and as his ex-wife walked the two children to school Monday morning, Savoie drove alongside them grabbed his kids, forced them into his car, and drove off to the U.S. consulate in that city to try to obtain passports for Isaac and Rebecca. The Japanese police were waiting for him.
The police took Savoie away, charging him with the abduction of minors — a charge that carries a jail sentence of up to five years. In the Japanese system people are almost always convicted.
The consulate met with Savoie on Monday and Tuesday, and has provided him with a list of local lawyers and said it will continue to assist.
I think good for Christopher for trying to get his kids back if he had done nothing there is a very strong likelihood he would never see his kids again. This link leads to many personal accounts of this happening.
The excuse that is given is that it is the Japanese way or some bullshit like that.
There are many documented cases of this type of kidnapping being conducted by Japanese and a whole website dedicated to the issue called JCRN - Japan Children’s Rights Network.
This is wrong and terrible Japan has jailed the father who is the victim of having his kids kidnapped while Ex-wife is free to do as she pleases. A common very ironic observation that is made is the Japanese will bitch and scream about having people abducted by North Korea but they let these international kidnappings go unchecked.
Japan is slow to change but it is possible. In the past Matthew Perry forced change on the Japanese, and an A-bomb also forced change.
I think this type of kidnapping is disgusting and should be exposed to the world as loudly as possible. Express your support for Christopher and your outrage towards the Japanese law system that allows this to happen.
September 29th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Wow this was the first time I heard about this story. Why isn’t this story not covered by the Japanese media? I’ve never heard this story on TV. The Japanese media should pick this up and report it. This story is very disturbing but I would like to know what the lady was thinking when she took the kids back to Japan. And also if the kids were willing to go to Japan or unhappy to move to Japan or if they miss Tenessee.
I don’t know the details of this case but if the dad has rights for custody then the kids should be with him in Tenessee. The Japanese government asks the North Koreans to return their citizens. If they ask that then the Japanese government should do the right thing and return the kids to their father.
October 18th, 2009 at 7:16 am
[...] Christopher Savoie is the American father who tried to reclaim his kidnapped children from his Japan… [...]
February 4th, 2010 at 5:46 am
[...] A case that made the news recently is the Christopher Savoie case. Christopher Savoie’s former wife Noriko Savoie knew Japan does not recognize family court orders from the United States and deliberately kidnapped the kids taking them back to Japan. There are many documented cases of this type of behavior and a whole website dedicated to the issue called JCRN - Japan Children’s Rights Network. A video of the story can be seen by following the NewsChannel5.com link. The Christoper Savoie case is different because he actually went back to Japan to try and get his kids back but instead got thrown in a Japanese jail as the United States embassy refused to open their doors to him as he begged for help at their door way with his kids in his arms. [...]