Every Child

Has Two Parents

 
 

Japan detains Franklin, TN, father in custody fight for kids

Cultures collide as local man pushes to get children back

 
By Chris Echegaray and Mitchell Kline • THE TENNESSEAN • October 1, 2009



FRANKLIN — Christopher Savoie acted out of desperation. He wanted his children back, and it landed him in a detention center in the small southern Japanese city of Yanagawa since Monday.

"He's not allowed to talk to anyone," said his wife, Amy Savoie, on Wednesday. "He's asked to call me. He's requested a book to read in English, and he was denied."
Savoie, 38, went to Japan to get his children, who were taken there by his ex-wife. The father and his children, ages 8 and 6, got as far as the doors of the U.S. Consulate in Fukuoka when Japanese authorities arrested him.
His ex-wife, Noriko Savoie, is facing charges in the United States as a fugitive from justice for custodial interference after absconding with the children in August, against a Williamson County court order. After she took the children, a judge granted the husband full custody.
Savoie feared that this would happen, and he had warned a Williamson County judge to stop his ex-wife and confiscate her and the children's passports, court records show.
But court records also show another side of this custody battle: A feuding couple, with the now ex-wife accusing the husband of having an affair, and Noriko not wanting the children around the current wife.
Christopher and Noriko Savoie's divorce was finalized in January. The couple reached a settlement so the children could live near their father, said Jo Nystrom, a friend and neighbor to the Savoies.
Savoie transferred $700,000 to Noriko, according to the divorce decree. "She got the money and the children," Nystrom said. "It's sad."
Nokiro was struggling with acclimating to the United States after initially trying to bring up her children in her native Japan, according to court records.
The husband gave the court a February e-mail to prove his wife was threatening to leave.
"It's very difficult to watch kids becoming American and losing Japanese identity,'' she wrote. "I am at the edge of the cliff. I cannot hold it anymore if you keep bothering me.''
Savoie was able to get a temporary restraining order last spring barring Noriko from leaving the country with the kids, but it was lifted after a hearing in a Tennessee court. Noriko and the children went to Japan for a court-approved summer vacation, and Noriko did return with them.
Then, their father and his new wife took the children to New England on vacation and returned Aug. 11.
But his fears were realized with a phone call two days later, on Aug. 13, from Winstead Elementary School. The children had not gone to class. Franklin police went to the rental house on Langley Drive, where Noriko and the children lived.
When police opened the door, everything was there except their clothes.
"He was depressed, devastated,'' said Jo Nystrom said of Savoie.
Franklin police are working with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office to see what recourse they have to bring the mother and children back to the United States.
Nokiro a good tenant
There was a slight language barrier, but Nokiro was friendly, said Daniel Gardner, who rented the Franklin Greens house to Nokiro.
"I rented the house to Christopher and Nokiro," he said. "She wanted the marriage to work, but he left. She was in the house for a year and two months. The best tenant I ever had. When the police called me for a wellness check, they told me to either open the door for them or they would knock it open."
Savoie is a software engineer and a linguist with a knack for business. It was Savoie's ideas that brought him to Franklin. With other partners, Savoie started Tazzle It Inc., a software application that allows Blackberries to print documents and text messages among other things. The manufacturing is done in Tokyo.
He previously founded and ran a Tokyo-based pharmaceutical company, records show. Savoie moved back to the United States in January 2008, and Noriko Savoie and the children moved here in June of that year. Divorce proceedings began soon after. He married Amy in February.
Amy Savoie, admittedly shy and leery of the media, now finds her family's story in the national spotlight. She has granted interviews with national media, trying to force enough pressure to have her husband released.
"It's been three days of no sleep,'' she said. "I'm a sweatshirt-type of girl, and I find myself doing all these interviews to bring attention to this. I miss him. I miss them."
Savoie first met Amy while attending the University of Rhode Island. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology and spent seven years at Kyushu University in Japan, where he earned a master's degree and doctorate in immunology.
Citizen of Japan
He met Noriko Esaki, in Fukuoka, Japan, in 1995. Savoie is listed as a Japanese citizen, and Noriko was a legal permanent U.S. resident, according to court records.
Amy Savoie fears her husband will not be able to see his children for years.
Divorced fathers in Japan don't get much access to their children because of cultural beliefs that small children should be with their mothers. Japan has declined to sign the 1980 Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, which seeks to ensure that custody decisions are made by the appropriate courts and that the rights of access of both parents are protected.
"Culturally, Japan and the U.S. have very different approaches to divorce and child-rearing," said David Marks, U.S. Embassy spokesman in Tokyo. "Japanese privacy laws can create frustrations for 'left-behind' parents.''

--------------------------

Christopher Savoie of Franklin and his children, 8-year-old Isaac and 6-year-old Rebecca.
ISSUE AT A GLANCE
• Aug. 12: Christopher Savoie’s ex-wife, Noriko Savoie, goes to Japan with their two children, ages 8 and 6.

• Aug. 13: The children’s school notifies Christopher Savoie that they missed class. Franklin Police issue a warrant for Noriko Savoie’s arrest. 

• Monday: Christopher Savoie is detained in a small city in Japan after attempting to get his children but failing to get inside the U.S. Embassy.

• Japan’s stance: Japan has yet to sign the 1980 Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, which seeks to ensure that custody decisions are made by the appropriate courts and that the rights of access of both parents are protected. Children are increasingly caught in the middle of those legal battles. Tokyo has argued that the Hague Convention could hinder its ability to shield Japanese women and their children fleeing abusive foreign husbands.

— CHRIS ECHEGARAY
itn-tktenn20_files/migrant-workers-protection-globalnation-09102009-edz.flv

The information on this website concerns a matter of public interest, and is provided for educational and informational purposes only in order to raise public awareness of issues concerning left-behind parents. Unless otherwise indicated, the writers and translators of this website are not lawyers nor professional translators, so be sure to confirm anything important with your own lawyer.




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