While the U.S. has been clashing with Japan on this issue for years, America has decided to turn up the heat recently, with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell warning, “The situation has to be resolved in order to ensure that the U.S.-Japan relations continue on such a positive course.”

Japan is the only country of seven major industrial nations that has so far refused to sign the Hague Convention treaty that would ban child abductions involving other countries. While many have tried to defend the nation by explaining that its culture does not litigate divorce in the same manner that the U.S. does, many, including San Francisco family lawyers, say this is not an acceptable reason to ignore the problem.

To read more on the issue, see the article in the Washington Post. Image via futureatlas.com [Flickr].