Adam Perry's Interview (Parent of abducted child)

Bjoern put me in contact with Adam Perry, an English solicitor, who sheds light on his experience with the Japanese court system in trying to see his son who was taken by his Japanese ex-wife in 2017.

Adam and his son seen happy on a swing before the abduction.

As a solicitor Adam provided insight to the Japanese legal system and how flawed it is in keeping children safe from abduction. He highlighted the issues through the legal actions he took in Japan and in the UK, which provided me more understanding about how the system that only benefits the abducting parent due to the sole custody system. There was basically nothing Adam could do in Japan as it just led him to endless mediation court sessions, so he made the hard decision of leaving his son and Japan back to the UK.

In the UK, he wrote countless letter to British officials and EU officials, although all of them weren't much help. (All linked at end of post). A lot of them would direct him to a non-profit organisation called Reunited and they work first hand with the abducting parents' lawyers which Adam found very contradictory and refused to get in touch with them.

If I were to get in touch [Reunited] I would have all my leverage and information given to the 'enemy', that's a massive professional conflict of interest. As a solicitor I could not act in this situation," said Adam.

The sad truth is there isn't any legal support from the government for these parents who had their children stolen from them, these parents have to take matters into their own hands most of the time.

In hindsight, I wished I asked Adam more about how he felt in the situations he was in, although the conversation was very insightful and even made me tear up near the end, I didn't get as many emotional quotes as I would like, which would help the piece resonate with the reader even more. It's understandable that I may have wanted to get more emotional quotes from Adam about his experiences with parental child abduction in Japan. Emotional quotes can help readers better understand and empathise with the struggles and difficulties that these parents face. However, I think it is also important to respect individuals' boundaries and their right to privacy.

Some of Adam's chronology:

(Names of Adam's ex-wife and son has been removed as per request by Adam)