“Japan is an important partner and friend of the U.S., but on this issue, our points of view differ,” the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said Tuesday. “Our two nations approach divorce and child-rearing differently. Parental child abduction is not considered a crime in Japan.”

This is a subject that really tears things up.  I am personally and philosophically against the government getting involved any further than simply providing a reasonable method by which honest, fairly created civil contracts between adults relative to family matters can be enforced.  But when you support the government making parental abduction a crime, then you, in a very real sense, give over ownership of your children to the government.  Who ever has been granted physical custody, is really just a custodian of the government’s property.

via American jailed in Japan for trying to reclaim his children – CNN.com.