In Japan, foreign parents lead charge against child 'abduction'

FILE PHOTO: Scott McIntyre, an Australian sports journalist, speaks outside the Tokyo District Court after spending a month and a half in jail on charges of trespassing to find his missing children, in Tokyo, Japan January 15, 2020. REUTERS/Chang-Ran Kim/File Photo

TOKYO (Reuters) - A growing number of foreigners in Japan are speaking out against what they say is a little-known but entrenched system that allows one parent in a broken relationship to take away the children and block the other from visiting them.

The issue of what media in Japan and overseas call parental child "abduction" has regained international attention recently, particularly in Europe where documentaries have been made about European fathers whose children were taken by their Japanese wives.