The land without joint custody

The Washington Post reports on Japan's unusual family law system

In Canada, the family courts start with the assumption that it’s in a child’s best interests to have as much contact as possible with both parents following a divorce or separation. In my experience, shared custody orders - where the child spends more than 40% of the time in the care of each parent - are increasingly common.

According to The Washington Post, things are very different in Japan, where divorced parents often find themselves with little or no contact with their children:

Japan is unusual among developed nations in not recognizing the concept of joint custody. Its custom of granting sole custody to one parent means hundreds of thousands of mothers and fathers face potential barriers to see their children, and children are being denied the right to see both of their parents as they grow up, lawyers say.

[…]

Japanese courts operate on what’s known as the “continuity principle,” almost always granting sole custody to whoever has physical control of the children when the case c…