chuckers wrote:

8>< schnitt

> Other rumours on the intraweb thingy are saying that the wife wanted
> a divorce in Japan but he wouldn't have it.  So, he "flees" to
> Tennessee in Jan of 2008.  It looks very much like he told her that
> if she wants a divorce, she is going to have to come to Tennessee
> with the kids.  Which she does in June of 2008. Whereupon she is 
> served with divorce papers before she has a chance to unpack.

Not as unusual as you might want to think.  However, I previously used 
the four-letter word "competent venue" and that takes two.  If she 
wanted the divorce in Japan, and it sounds as though she had legitimate 
grounds, her US lawyer should have fought for a change of country on 
those grounds.  I am pretty sure that, unless diminished sanity, child 
beating, and abuse by the mother were issues, that the court would have 
to consider such a challenge.

> Must be oodles of fun trying to find a divorce lawyer in a foreign 
> country with a different native tongue. Way to work the "system"
> there, big guy. It's not as if you didn't basically "abduct and hold
> hostage" "your" kids and (now) ex-wife in making her come to TN.

Not as difficult as you might think, especially among Japanese women in 
the US.  There is a really strong underground that is connected in ways 
that will frighten you once you learn about them.  With a quick phone 
call to the closest consulate, she would have been hooked up with a "big 
sister," and a translator, plus a sympathetic lawyer in less than a day. 
  I have seen this in action several times and it is pretty frightening 
how well it works.

Plus, there is something about the way Japanese women can come off as 
all lost at sea and innocent that creates a genetic change, especially 
in men who come from a Southern Baptist / Missouri Synod / Pentecostal / 
fundamentalist that makes them jump to her defense without questioning 
her motives in the least.  I have testified several times in US courts 
that the story the woman is telling can be found in three books by Ihara 
Saikaku, written between 1684 and 1690 ... and it just rolls right off. 
  Some Japanese women have been able to wrap US judges around their 
pinkies in about 30 seconds with a well-timed sigh or sniff.  White guys 
just don't get it ... especially one who aren't hardened veterans like 
we all are.

The Japanese wife underground in the US is a formidable opponent.

> I think the Tennessee courts also screwed the pooch on this one by 
> awarding "joint" custody.

It is a very normal, and very naive screwup, based upon a whole lot of 
things which include the fact that Americans trust too many people too 
easily.

> Don't get me wrong, joint custody is a wonderful concept as long as
> the parental units in question can at least be civil to each other at
> all times rather than using the kids as weapons.  

You haven't been involved in many divorces, I take it ... you have just 
described SOP in about 120% of all cases with kids.

> But for the courts to say that one party now has to live in a foreign
> country and look after the kids in a land they have never known for
> all but 2 weekends a month is just plain wrong.  They should have
> just given her sole custody and allowed her to take the kids back to
> Japan.  Which is where she is now.

Competent venue again.  She agreed to accept the court's decision and to 
abide by the ruling.  She didn't have to.  She could have challenged the 
court's right to adjudicate and, given that she'd never lived in the 
States, and didn't appear to have ever wanted to, and was from a country 
which the US recognizes as "mostly civilized," she might have convinced 
the court not to hear the case.

> That, and the now ex-wife was a bit stupid in agreeing to come to the
> States with the kids. She should have just refused and scumbag Dad
> would have a hard time getting re-married without the divorce.  Not
> that it would have stopped him from dipping his stick, of course, but
> this whole thing would have been avoided.

Once she got here and saw what was happening, she could have turned 
around and headed back to Wa post haste.  She would not have been a 
fugitive from anything at that point.

There are hundreds of couples in Japan who are married to each other and 
living with a different person than the one whose name is on the 
marriage certificate.  It is almost impossible to get a divorce in Japan 
based solely on the fact that one partner is unfaithful and there are 
hundreds of economic reasons not to pull the plug.  It takes a lot more 
than just that one allegation if both parties don't agree that it is a 
legitimate one.  There is even a provision in estate law to make sure 
all of the parties are properly covered in the event of the demise of 
one of them.  The whole thing is based upon something like 600~800 years 
of precedent.  Ol' Chris could have porked all of the strange that would 
bend over for him and his standing in Japanese law would not change in 
the least.

-- 
CL