The Hague Convention (Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction)　

　In case you have a child of yours removed from Japan to a Contracting State of the Hague Convention (officially the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction) or retained [Note1] in a Contracting State, and want your removed child returned to Japan, you can file an application to the Central Authority of Japan for assistance in order to realize the return of the child to Japan (Assistance in child’s return to Japan).
Your application, however, is to be dismissed if any of the following conditions are met. (Article No.13, Paragraph (1) Implementation Act; officially Act for Implementation of the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction) Therefore, you are advised to make sure that your case does not fall under any of the following items for dismissal.

• The child pertaining to the application has attained the age of 16.
• The state or territory where the child pertaining to the application is located is unknown
• It is obvious that the child pertaining to the application is located in Japan or any state or territory other than Contracting State.
• It is obvious that the location of the child pertaining to the application and the domicile or residence of the applicant are in the same Contracting State.
• It is obvious that the state of habitual residence of the child pertaining to the application is not Japan.
• At the time of the removal or the commencement of the retention of the child pertaining to the application, the state or territory where said child is considered to have been located was not a Contracting State. [Note 2]
• It is obvious that the applicant does not have the rights of custody with respect to the child pertaining to the application under the laws or regulations of Japan, or that said rights of custody are not breached by the removal or retention of the child pertaining to the application.

　[Note1] "Retention" means the condition he or she is prevented from returning to the state of his or her habitual residence after a child travels from Japan to the state of his or her habitual residence and the limited period agreed by both parents.

　[Note2] Applications are also dismissed if they are concerned with cases of a removal or a retention of said child which began before the enforcement date, April 1, 2014, of the Hague Convention in Japan since such cases meet this condition.

　Details of the procedures and assistance in each Contracting State vary from state to state. For further details about the procedures and assistance in each Contracting States, please refer to “Country Profile” of each state available on the Hague Conference on International Private Law homepage (Country Profiles are available in English, French or Spanish. Country profiles of some states are not provided) or enquire at the Central Authority of the relevant state directly.

　Should you wish to submit your application to Japan, you will be required to submit the application documents along with supporting materials to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is the Central Authority of Japan. For the application form and information on how to apply, please refer to this page. The Central Authority of Japan accepts applications in Japanese and English. However, translation into the language accepted by the requested Central Authority of the state in which the child resides may be necessary, and the translation process will require some time. We therefore recommend applicants to submit application in English from the first instance for purposes of celerity in case the requested Central Authority accepts an application in English.