There is no space on a divorce by agreement application to assign visitation rights. Instead, upon filing for divorce, a mother and father may sign a notarized agreement that lays out a visitation schedule. However, the enforcement of such an agreement can be difficult as police are reluctance to get involved and there is often not much incentive for either party to refrain from breaking the agreement.
Furthermore, when visitation rights are granted by a judge in Japan, they tend to be on a much smaller scale than the visitation schedules that are granted in the United States and other countries. Very few recorded visitation schedules include overnight stays with the non-custodial parent with day visits of a few hours being more common. A large majority of visitation in Japan takes place on a frequency of “once a month or greater.”
If you have any questions about visitation in Japan please contact our office for a legal consultation.