Frenchman Seeks Macron's Help Over "Abduction" Of His Children In Japan

Vincent Fichot is camped outside one of Tokyo's Olympic Stadiums - not far from Friday's opening ceremony - on a hunger strike to protest what he says is the legal abduction of his children in Japan.

Vincent Fichot has not eaten in nearly two weeks. The 39-year-old Frenchman is camped outside one of Tokyo's Olympic Stadiums - not far from Friday's opening ceremony - on a hunger strike to protest what he says is the legal abduction of his children in Japan. His dramatic action, in the Tokyo summer where temperatures are hitting highs of 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit), aims to draw attention to the plight of parents like him who are denied custody or even visitation rights. French President Emmanuel Macron, the only G7 head of state visiting Japan for the Games, will raise the issue of Japan's custody rights when he meets Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Saturday, as he did in 2019 with Suga's predecessor, Shinzo Abe, a French official said. Unlike many other countries, Japan does not allow dual custody of children, and in some cases, one parent takes the children and blocks contact with the other. The issue most often attracts attention in cases of foreign husbands divorced from Japanese women.