Sorry for late reply, noticed this thread just now.
I never heard about this guy, but I know others similar to him. There is one, who calls himself tokyoreporter
http://www.tokyoreporter.com/
and if you read his publications, you will think, Japan is the worst place of crimes in the world.
There is infamous Debito
http://www.debito.org/
who feels discriminated everywhere....
and for sure there are some others too. Basically said, in Japan you can rather publish what you want, can be an activist about whatever you want to be.
Nobody cares.
I am not a lawyer, but the situation in Japan legally seen is not against men and in the large cities, where nobody knows who is who, the way Japanese handle their problems in about the following way:
I do not write now about some 'special people' looking for their 'rights' like feminists, gay groups, mother in jail, life in small fishing villages on islands, foreigners claiming rights from their own country etc. etc., I write about ordinary Japanese men and women.
1 - Co-habitation
People living together as a couple, but are not legally married, will never face a situation like in Western countries where such co-habitation will change to a similar status to marriage. If you want to leave, just leave - finished.
This is legally true also in case with children and you are not the biological father - as long as you all are living in the same rooms, you have all the rights and duties of a father for HER children, if you are moving out, you are gone - the Japanese law will not follow you for any form of support for her or her children.
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2 -
Young people married can easily divorce, most of them own anyway nothing much of value. They fill in a form in the ward office, sign together, cancel the rent contract, pack their things and are gone.
In case of children there is nothing what can be legally enforced, in general the man disappears, just gone, no alimony, no child support.
The wife gets the children, there are no visitation rights.
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3 -
Divorce usually works well out of court. Just sign together in the ward office - finished. Lawyers and courts are expensive, slow, and divorce is not a business unlike Western countries. Most lawyers are very reluctant except there is a big quarrel going on and this couple looking for divorce is really rich. Decisions are not predictable, can take many years if contested etc. Most simple people try their best to avoid divorce by courts under any circumstances, whenever possible.
Some couples decide to create often with the help of a consultant a civil contract, divorce in a friendly way - typically the text might be something like: Give me yen 100.000,- per month as support and you can meet me and take the 2 children with you every weekend from my parents as I am working on weekend anyway - or give me yen 20.000,- for every day you want to be with the 2 children, etc.
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4 -
Divorce of old couples, often past 60 years old after a long marriage.
While in a short marriage/divorce there is nothing you can claim (Western-style gold diggers are hopeless in Japan etc), court guidelines consider about 2 % or 3 % if one spouse has everything and the other has nothing after a long marriage.
Nowadays young people have their own retirement contract, their own banking accounts etc. but with old people this is not always the case.
The old man still has everything, like the land title, all savings only in his name, retirement allowance or his business etc. all in his name.
The old wife legally seen, owns nothing.
In such a divorce a court - if it even moves on to court asking for decision - considers how many years the marriage took place, typically after 20 to 25 years married the wife can claim up to 50 percent.
However to avoid delay, often such an old couple decides on a one-time separation pay out of court to buy a new accommodation for her and further she will receive a small part of the retirement allowance (this you could call alimony).
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Now about some foreigners:
I do not know about any divorce next to me, here in Japan. However disputes are coming up when the foreign ex-husband demands similar rights he knows from EU or USA - but the Japanese ex-wife is refusing - such cases known in court are only few, and usually it is about their children.
The foreign father insists on visitation rights and wants to pay monthly child support to her account - and she is refusing him to let see their children and is refusing to accept any support money.
It is said that such cases are rather rare - more likely the foreign ex-husband or boyfriend etc. prefers to disappear, back to his country and to pay nothing....
Sometimes the Japanese or foreign mother is doing the same, she disappears, some even to overseas - if you look in any Japanese orphanage/home for abandoned children, you will see that about 1/4 of all children are clearly mixed or even pure foreign children. Many are Asians, but you will see also black children, Latinos, etc. just from any part of this world.
Well this is about the situation here in Japan, any question?
Now about these 'reporters and their stories on youtube' etc.- these (few) foreign men from Western countries (believe me all these Chinese, Filipinos, South Americans etc. prefer to disappear!) cannot accept the Japanese way of life in Japan, so after disputes, he runs to a lawyer, if he finds one to listen, he will be asked to pay some deposit, USD 5000,- or so... and in Japan lawyers are obliged to contact first the other party and try to negotiate. As this fails, he has no choice but to move on to court, pay again USD 10.000,- or so, next in return the court will ask for court fees, again this can be a few thousends of USD, and all must be paid in advance - of course the spouse on the other side sends a cheap consultant acting on her behalf, who merely says: We object. - Result: Postponed. Next date, postponed etc. etc. and this goes on over years... and finally he writes something about human rights, or fathers rights or similar BS.
But sorry, this is not the way, how disputes regarding divorce are settled here in Japan...inform yourself BEFORE you enter in Japan a personal relationship with a Japanese citizen about the legal situation. Laws are not everywhere the same.