From CNN: American Jailed for Trying to Reclaim Children. More here. We don’t know all the details of this story, but wow, what a story. The American courts had declared dual custody of the children, and the Japanese ex-wife took them up and fled to Japan, despite the fact that the American ex-husband feared that she would do just that. Because Japan is not a party to the Hague Convention, Japan is under no obligation to abide by any foreign court rulings. The American guy flew to Japan, re-kidnapped his kids as they were with their mother, and then tried to drive to them to the U.S. Consulate. Unfortunately for him, the Japanese police were waiting for him after being alerted by his ex-wife. To his surprise, the US Consulate then refused to open the gates as he tried to run. Of course, we’re only getting the American guy’s perspective in all this since the wife isn’t here to plead her case to the American media, but this is certainly sad. Now he’s stuck in a Japanese prison cell, possibly stuck for five years.
I don’t know if there’s a lesson in all of this. The only thing I would say is that maybe the American guy should’ve tried to re-kidnap his kids when the wife wasn’t around to call the police. He could’ve taken advantage of the confusion among strangers, rather than grabbing them in front of a woman who surely must’ve anticipated the possibility of him coming for them. It’s Japan, not Nashville, Tennessee–when Japanese people yell in Japan, police come quickly. Given the friendly US-Japanese relations, I’m not surprised that the US Consulate refused to open the gates after all the commotion. My guess is that things are going to end badly for him.
Edit: By the way, if you watch the video from News Channel 5, they keep mentioning that Noriko, the wife, broke the law. But didn’t Chris break Japanese law by snatching the kids and trying to made a beeline to the Consulate? I’m not saying I wouldn’t do the same thing, but the reporting strikes me as somewhat biased.
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I think you are biased yourself. She broke the law, and just goes to show, the Japanese are pretty low level people. I dislike the way they treat fathers in their country and this just proves it. I support him in his cause, but if those kids don’t come back were they belong, and he is not released from jail, our country really is worthless! We saved their rears after they tried to destroy our country. This proves I made the worst mistake at the polls last year. Now to children will suffer for a crazy Japanese lady that has no respect for our laws, but wait, we have to respect Japanese laws. I choose his side. He broke no law because Japanese law is pretty darn disgusting. Fathers have rights, just wish the world would understand that!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One more thing, are you eally an American? Sure don’t sound like it!
“One more thing, are you eally an American? Sure don’t sound like it!”
Well, part of being American is believing in justice and fairness. In America, we hear both sides before making a judgment. Do you know Noriko’s story? You don’t. She’s a Japanese national–maybe he was a less than perfect husband. Maybe she got robbed by the courts? Maybe she got robbed because she was a person of color. Or maybe she didn’t speak the language well. Maybe he didn’t deserve his rights.
All I’m saying is that I’m not going to rush to judgment without hearing the mother’s side of the story. Chris broke Japanese law because he was in a hard situation, but have you thought that maybe Noriko broke American law because she was in a similarly hard situation? I think many times we’re too quick to judge without hearing the whole story.
Wow. I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/30/japan.savoie.children/index.html
“The father, Christopher Savoie, apparently became a naturalized Japanese citizen four years ago, listing a permanent address in Tokyo, they said.
And while he and Noriko Savoie, a Japanese native, divorced in Tennessee, the two never annulled their marriage in Japan, Japanese officials said.
Also, the two children at the center of the case hold Japanese passports, they said.
“
All four of them–mother, father, daughter, and son–are Japanese citizens (assuming Chris didn’t change it back). Their marriage in Japan was never annulled. So really the U.S. is the foreign government in this situation. If anything, this should be a domestic national dispute–in Japan.
We even got the headline wrong–it should say “Japanese jailed for trying to reclaim kids.”
How come useless, mentally dysfunctional, ‘American trash randomly pops in every so often and post asinine drivel that always ends with something along the lines of “That’s not very American of you” after they have made us privy to their pitiful lives and disgusting prejudices…like this Adam GarSHIT all in caps.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091001/ap_on_re_us/as_japan_us_custody_battle
Thank you, Mama Nabi.
So according to the article, Chris was cheating on Noriko while they were still married. Nice.
Then, according to her court testimony, he threatened to have her father jailed.
It’s also kind of silly how the media is portraying him as a poor, desperate wretch who had no recourse but to fly to Japan and do a Rambo-style rescue of his children. She got $800,000 plus other support from their divorce settlement, which means he’s rich.
Now, he’s portraying himself as the innocent American oppressed by supposed Japanese backwardness, while he himself voluntarily became a naturalized Japanese citizen.
See, Adam Garrard, this is why it’s important to get the full picture before jumping to conclusions.
WOW! *O^O*
-Cheating on his wife who moved to another country for him, then
-Divorcing his wife and destroying his family so he could be with another woman,then
-Complaining about child support payments to his own children (that he himself caused by his divorce), then
-Kidnapping the children from the marriage he destroyed,
And now he’s claiming himself a “victim”? of what? his own selfishness? …..er…oookaaaay…