"I thought, she can't kidnap my kid, I'll just go to the police. The first 2 or 3 months I was shattered, the first 6 months I was numb". In Japan, a combination of law and custom has meant that many separated parents are trapped in a heartbreaking, Kafkaesque hell, unable to see their children and stymied by a system on the side of the child's kidnapper. The country has become a refuge for parents who have run away from their partner, taking their children with them."There is no body of law there called Family Law", says professor Colin Jones. Japan has long resisted signing up to the Hague Convention that sets out the rules for these cases, despite intense international pressure. In an extraordinary case, Regan Haight managed to get her children back by hiring a former SAS officer and taking matters into her own hands. But happy endings are rare and currently none of the so-called 'left-behind parents' are holding their breath.