Dad’s hunger strike over ‘abducted’ kids enters third week

French father-of-two Vincent Fichot stands next to a banner where he has been on a hunger strike since July 10 to protest what he says is Japan’s sanctioning of child ‘abductions’ by a parent, near the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan.

A Frenchman on hunger strike in Tokyo seeking access to his children said an appeal from President Emmanuel Macron to Japan’s leader had “changed nothing”, as his protest entered its third week. Vincent Fichot, 39, says his two children were abducted by their Japanese mother, and he has been on hunger strike since July 10 in a bid to be reunited with his family. For two weeks, the former finance worker — who has lived in Japan for 15 years — has sat night and day outside a train station near the Olympic Stadium, where the opening ceremony for the virus-postponed Tokyo Games was held on Friday. Macron, who attended the ceremony with Paris set to host the next Olympics in 2024, held talks on Saturday with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. During their meeting, Macron brought up Fichot’s “extremely tragic situation”, according to the French president’s office, which called the issue a “priority”. Joint custody of children in cases of divorce or separation does not exist legally in Japan, where parental abductions are common and often tolerated by local authorities. Fichot’s wife accused him in court of domestic violence but later retracted the claim, he said. His wife’s lawyer refused to comment, but denounced “biased” media reports. “While it’s good that Suga and Macron at least discussed my case... it has changed nothing about the situation my children are in, so I will continue,” the Frenchman said yesterday. After the leaders met, Macron tweeted about the two countries’ “exceptional” relationship — drawing ire from Fichot, whose health is beginning to deteriorate. “France doesn’t even know if my children are alive,” he said of his six-year-old son and four-year-old daughter, who he has not seen since August 2018.