Family Reorganization in the Japanese Family Conciliation System: Resolving Divorce Disputes Involving Minor Children

Abstract

Since the court-annexed family conciliation system plays a significant part in the interface between Japanese family life and the law, this research focuses on the work of family conciliation proceedings and the role of conciliators. After giving a brief introduction in Section I, this paper explains the family conciliation system and conciliators in Section II. Section III discusses the latest developments in conciliation practices for divorce cases involving child custody and visitation issues, which have been felt by conciliation practitioners to be among the most difficult to solve. Section IV introduces the results of research interviews conducted by the author and argues that the current conciliators' normative discourse focuses more on the children's interest than on the divorce itself. Section V discusses from three specific points of view the issues that cause difficulties in custody and visitation disputes in the family conciliation system as a forum for family reorganization. Finally, Section VI analyzes the possible future directions of custody jurisprudence and argues the possible contribution of family sociology research for family law practice.