In our previous post, we described some disturbing cases of parents abducting their children to Japan. The Japanese parents are then able to stay there, safe from legal repercussions for the kidnapping, because the Japanese government refuses to acknowledge U.S. custody laws.

There are hundreds of these child custody disputes involving abduction to Japan, according to a recent ABC News report. To date, not one child has been returned to the U.S. as the result of diplomatic efforts to resolve the international dispute.

That's in stark contrast to the agreements the U.S. has been able to forge with other nations, including Brazil, Syria and Pakistan, where divorced parents used to be able to flee with their abducted kids.

A former U.S. diplomat says despite this country's strong economic and military ties to Japan, that nation has thus far refused to budge on child custody issues. She said, "Japan has to do the right thing." And yet the country refuses to sign a treaty requiring nations to return abducted children to their country of origin.

One parent interviewed for the report said he was living in U.S. military housing in Japan with his wife and daughter when he got a call one day from a neighbor wondering when he was moving back to the States. The neighbor had seen the man's wife and daughter packing up and leaving.

When he got home, his wife, nine-month-old daughter and belongings were all gone.

That was in 2003. The tragedy was compounded in 2007 when his ex-wife committed suicide.

Even then, he was unable to gain custody of his daughter. His former wife's mother assumed custody and proceeded to eliminate all communication between him and his little girl.

His most recent glimpse of his daughter came two years ago, when a private investigator he'd hired was able to take a photograph of the girl as she was walking to school.

ABC reports the grandmother won't accept money from the father and she won't allow the girl to visit him here.

We'll have more in our next blog post.

Resource: ABC News: "Abducted to Japan: Hundreds of American Children Taken": February 16, 2011