marriage in Japan

This is a great tongue in cheek explanation of the truth. You may also be interested the following article.

http://www.crnjapan.com/prevention/en/protectselfbeforemarriage.html

This is an honest attempt to gather what could be considered "Pre-Marriage Warning Signs of Future Child Custody Problems." They could also apply to marriage in general. Note that these must try to generalize certain aspects of Japanese society that may be root causes. So by their nature, they are just not warm and fuzzy. You have been warned!

It deserves to be mentioned that there is also a lot of pain dished out in the dissolution of domestic marriages (non-international) in Japan, when children are involved. Children are basically treated as material goods. They are given to one spouse or the other spouse (since they can not be sold or cut in half). If your ex-spouse is a mature adult who has respect for his/her children (even if they have have lost respect for you), you may get some visitation. But all too often the majority of so-called adults are rather immature. And very few have considered carefully what their children may want or need aside from the obvious (food/shelter/education).

As written by another poster above, the issues applies to marriage in all countries. However, Japanese family law and the Japanese government (through the domestic courts and in the cased of international situations, the Embassies and Consuls abroad) supports immaturity on the part of parents up to and including what can only be labeled as criminal behavior.

Moral: Try to marry someone who is emotionally mature (and try to be an emotionally mature person oneself)?

Written by a supporter of Yamila Castellanos. http://www.tokyowithkids.com/yamila.html