For a time, Japan had a reputation as the last hold out in terms of countries/societies that favored mothers as the natural caretakers of children. Because of this, they have been targeted by the international fathers rights crowd for "reforms," such as forcing Japan to sign on the the Hague Convention.
Now we see the logical results of that about face. Which is that violent, manipulative fathers like KAZUKI HARA get custody, with the mother "disappearing"--at least from official sight. Meanwhile, the child protective agencies, newly brainwashed in Father Exaltation Ideology (Every child needs a father! Fathers can do no wrong!), ignore/deny all evidence of child abuse. A month and a half after Daddy gets full custody back, Daddy kills the boy.
Same pattern we see in so many places now....
Right down to a total lack of curiosity as to what happened to the mother. How much do you want to bet that she was beaten as well? The main (unanswered) question here is what happened to her. Did Daddy kill her--and hide the body well? Maybe that's why she's "missing." Or did she flee for her life? Or did Daddy strip her of custody through official channels?
http://japandailypress.com/man-arrested-for-allegedly-beating-to-death-2-year-old-son-2438474/
Man arrested for allegedly beating to death 2-year-old son
Oct 24, 2013 Ida Torres
Man arrested for allegedly beating to death 2-year-old son
A man has been arrested for allegedly beating his young son to death in Wakayama. 26-year-old Kazuki Hara has finally been taken into custody several months after the boy died from a subarachnoid hemorrhage he suffered during an attack allegedly committed by his father.
A spokesperson for the child welfare agency that took care of the boy since 2011 said that the then 2-year-old Seri was brought to their attention after his father repeatedly stomped on him which led to several of his bones to be broken. The District Public Prosecutor’s Office in Wakayama however could not find any hard evidence to directly link Hara to the attack and so they had to settle for a suspension of indictment.
During this time, when the child was still under the care of the welfare agency, he and his father met 25 times and he even stayed over at his father’s house 35 times. Eventually, they decided to return Seri to his father June of this year after judging it was actually safe for the two of them to live together unsupervised. But if the child abuse allegations are true, then this was a horrible mistake on their part as the boy died just a month and a half later. Hara has so far denied that he had any intent to kill or even injure his son. There was no mention if the mother of the boy was alive or in any way still part of their lives.