【3】14th (Wed) Yamagata kencho by taxi or on foot (about 3km) 11:29 Yamagata (山形) → 12:33 Shinjo (新庄) 12:53 Shinjo (新庄) → 15:22 Akita (秋田) Akita kencho by taxi (about 3km) 18:46 Akita (秋田) → 20:34 Odate (大館) 21:13 Odate (大館) → 22:40 Aomori (青森) Stay at Aomori
【4】15th (Thu) Aomori kencho on foot 10:42 Aomori (青森) → 12:11 Hachinohe (八戸) (This is not JR but "Aoimori Tetsudo". But you can use Seishun 18.) 12:40 Hachinohe (八戸) → 14:27 Morioka (盛岡) (This is not JR but "Aoimori Tetsudo" and "Iwateginga Tetsudo". You cannot use Seishun 18. You have to pay 2960 yen.) Iwate kencho on foot or by taxi (about 2km) 17:00 Morioka (盛岡) → 18:34 Ichinoseki (一ノ関) 19:00 Ichinoseki (一ノ関) → 20:44 Sendai (仙台) Stay at Sendai
【5】16th (Fri) Miyagi kencho on foot 11:04 Sendai (仙台) → 12:16 (福島) 12:24 (福島) → 14:23 Kuroiso (黒磯) 14:40 Kuroiso (黒磯) → 15:31 Utsunomiya (宇都宮) 15:38 Utsunomiya (宇都宮) → 17:49 Yokohama (横浜) 18:10 Yokohama (横浜) → 19:56 Numazu (沼津) 20:00 Numazu (沼津) → 21:37 Hamamatsu (浜松) (You have to pay 310 yen because of the reserved seat.) 21:39 Hamamatsu (浜松) → 22:12 Toyohashi (豊橋) 22:17 Toyohashi (豊橋) → 23:24 Nagoya (名古屋)
【6】18th (Sun) 19:00 Nagoya (名古屋) → 20:05 Nakatsugawa (中津川) (You have to pay 310 yen because of the reserved seat.) 20:10 Nakatsugawa (中津川) → 21:58 Shioziri (塩尻) 22:06 Shioziri (塩尻) → 22:23 Matsumoto (松本) 22:48 Matsumoto (松本) → 23:56 Nagano (長野) Stay at Nagano
Great guy. Remembered our anketo. He filled it out and his section is pushing for joint custody.
(joint custody:共同親権、共同監護)
Facebookより
Iwate prefectural bldg. I had a really good meeting with the child welfare division. He remembered the questionnaire children first sent. He also said his prefecture is working on legislation for joint custody. I was impressed with what he said and his attitude.
19日(月)は一豊さんと長野県庁、山梨県庁に行かれました。
Facebookでケビンさんが次のように書いておられます。
A member of Oyakonet Nagano drove me to nagano and kofu to visit the prefectural offices
宿泊もさせていただき、ありがとうございました
I hope you made it safely to Tochigi today, and that your meeting with prefectural officials there indicated at least a little bit of progress.
After you left, one of my co-workers in the International Division found a written opinion from the Saitama Prefectural Assembly written in July of this year addressed to the federal government. The URL is http://www.pref.saitama.lg.jp/page/gikai-gaiyou-h2306-5.html#06. I've attached a Word document with the text form position document and a rather quick translation, in case it might be a useful reference.
Again, I very much hope that your efforts are successful, though I'm sure it will take longer than you or other parents in similar situations would wish for. Take care during the holiday season and best wishes for the new year.
I finished my meeting at the ibaraki kencho at about 4:45pm. I have to say, so far, they have been the friendliest. I told The international affairs department that I want to talk to the child welfare department and they said "OK let's go". The people I spoke to in family affairs/child welfare were also super friendly. The other prefectures should take lessons from ibaraki on how to treat people.
From September to December I visited 41 prefectural offices. In general all most all prefectures did their best to accommodate my needs. Since my Japanese ability is not very good, I would first go to the International Affairs Division and ask for translation help. Then someone from International Affairs would accompany me to the Child Welfare Department or in some cases Child Welfare would come to the International Affairs Division. Ibaraki-ken was the most friendly prefectural office I visited. The people in the International Affairs Department and the Child Welfare Department were both great. Mie-ken was the most unfriendly prefectural office. They turned me away and told me to make an appointment if I decided to come back. They were the only prefecture that turned me away. Other unfriendly prefectures included Saitama, Oita, and Fukuoka. Some of the better prefectures were Iwate, Yamanashi, and Ibaraki, with the remaining prefectures falling in the middle. Sometimes I met with as many as 4 members from Child Welfare. Many times the people I met with would take notes as I spoke. All most every prefecture said they would share the information I gave them with others in their department. They all said they would have a meeting to discuss what they could do for me (for children who can’t meet one of their parents). But they said it was difficult for them to do anything significant. Of course I said they were limited in what they could do but I also suggested some simple things they could do, such as ask the governor to send a request to the Diet in Tokyo requesting Japan adopt “Joint Custody”. Japan is the only G-7 country that does not have some form of joint custody. I met some good people along the way. Left behind parents supported me in Fukuoka, Yamaguchi, Hiroshima, Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, Gifu, Shiga, Aichi, Yokohama, Tokyo, and Nagano. I am grateful of their help and generosity. I was definitely able to raise awareness at the prefectural level but the general public still is largely unaware of this problem. More work needs to be done. I told all of the prefectural offices that the family court was the problem. The ruling the family courts make go against the message contained in the DVD Supreme Court video and the UNCRC. The family courts do nothing to ensure children have contact with both parents. The government encourages fathers to take a more active role in child rearing and has established policies for workers to take more time off when their kids are born. But the family courts/government seem to ignore this fact when couples divorce. After divorce one parent somehow becomes unimportant. Ten’s of thousands of loving parents, maybe more, are being denied access to one parent. You can make a difference by getting involved. Oyakonet and K-net are 2 of the biggest LBP groups in Japan. There are many other smaller groups too, most of whom support each other and work toward the same goal “spending more time with their children”. Contact Children First if you are interested in helping out.
> I highlighted one mistake in my story. I said Oita was not good. It should be Miyazaki. I changed Oita to Miyazaki and highlighted the change in yellow. The man there showed no interest in what I was saying. He was rude.