As international marriages and divorces increase in Japan, in order to lessen the difficulties for non-Japanese speaking spouses, most Japanese family courts are staffed with mediators that can speak English. However, these mediators may be of varying levels of skill and sometimes it may be easier to bring an attorney or bi-lingual friend to the mediation to help interpret. The court should be informed of this beforehand and in some cases the approval of the other spouse may be required.