An article from The Daily Yomiuri dated 2 March, written by Keiko Kosaka ,reads;

• In 2008, 250,000 couples got divorced in Japan, this is an average of 1 divorce every 2 minutes;
• More than 140,000 of these couples had children, leaving more than 240,000 children, who are in the middle of their divorced parents.
• In Japan, one parent is usually given sole(exclusive/the only one)child custody rights, and the other parent who may want to visit the child, will ask permission for visitation rights.
• A Tokyo-based group, The Shared Child Custody Rights Movement Network is trying to help these problems. They believe that both parents should have access to their child/children even after their marriage falls apart.
• According to the group's co-chair Mr. Mitsuru Munakata,"under the sole custody rights system, a non custodial parent is denied the right to know what's happening to his/her child."