Damn... Japan IS different.

American jailed in Japan for trying to reclaim his abducted children - CNN.com:

"'...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.'

...Japan is not a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on international child abduction.

The international agreement standardizes laws, but only among participating countries.

So while Japanese civil law stresses that courts resolve custody issues based on the best interest of the children without regard to the parent's nationality, foreign parents have had little success in regaining custody.

Japanese family law follows a tradition of sole custody divorces. When a couple splits, one parent typically makes a complete and lifelong break from the children."