Abducted 2009

Gunnar Daniel Berg
	LBP Name:	Douglass Berg
	LBP Location:	Reston, VA
	Child's Birthday:	September 1999
	Abduction Date:	August 2009
	Last Contact:	August 2009
	Abductor's Name:	Naoko Numakami
	Abducted From:	Reston VA
	Website:	Gunnar and Kianna Website

Abducted 2009

Notes from Douglass Berg

• Without a Dry Eye

  Without a Dry Eye

  When my kids left for Japan on summer travel

  That’s the moment my entire life began to unravel.

  She told me they were going to the island nation

  but she didn’t tell me it was for a everlasting vacation.

  She took my beloved children on an airplane

  a vital step in her alienation campaign.

  She told me an enormous and vicious lie -

  This is the reason why

  I live my life without a dry eye.

  I have called to hear maybe one familiar voice

  but make no mistake – there is no rejoice.

  For three years I have heard nothing but silence

  a cruel form of revenge and emotional violence.

  To hear my children speak is nothing but a pipe-dream.

  Was my loneliness and agony part of her poisonous scheme?

  When they left I did not know it would be our last goodbye -

  This is the reason why

  I live my life without a dry eye.

  I see their faces vividly in my dreams

  then I awake to tears flowing like river streams.

  Seeing my little tykes always brings me delight

  even if it’s in the middle of the night.

  Dreams give me moments of togetherness so sweet.

  Dreams are all that I have, thanks to her deceit.

  I dream about my little buddy and my cutie pie -

  This is the reason why

  I live my life without a dry eye.

  I have lived many days full of wonder with little hope or grace.

  I have lived many days praying for that first embrace.

  It is so hard to be separated, to be apart

  the sounds of grief echo in my gloomy heart.

  I cannot give up hope and I beg and I pray

  for the miracle to be reunited one day.

  Every moment without them I silently die -

  This is the biggest reason why

  I live my life without a dry eye.

• Cruel and Unusual Punishment – Japan’s Sole Custody Law

  At the heart of the Japanese international child abduction problem is Japan’s sole custody law.  In Japan when parents divorce a single parent is granted sole custody of the children.  One parent simply has to give up all his or her rights to their children. If one is not a Japanese citizen, you can be assured you will not be granted sole custody of your children. Not only does this violate the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment to the children of divorced parents.

  Left-behind parents with children abducted in Japan constantly hear that the Japanese Government wants to do what is in the best interest of the child.  Really? Is sole custody really in the best interest of children?  How can removing a loving parent possibly be in the best interest of children?  In the cases of abduction involving criminal acts under both U.S. and Japanese law, Japan drags its feet and fails to uphold its own laws. It protects the abductors, alienates the other parent and harms the children.

  On this issue, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) states “Tragically, Japan has become a black hole for children whose Japanese parent—or in some cases non-Japanese parent—decided not to abide by the laws of the United States and rather to run to a jurisdiction where they would not have to share custody, or even permit visitation of the child by the child’s other parent. Japan has historically been complicit in these abductions, offering protection without investigation.” If the Japanese Government truly cared for what is in the best interest of the children of within their country, they would change their custody laws.  This would also help stop Japan from continuing to function as a haven for international child abduction.

  The sole custody law simply is Cruel and Unusual Punishment to the innocent children caught up in Japan’s archaic legal system.  The law is cruel in that a child is denied the loving care of a parent and unusual in that Japan is the only G20 nation with such a law.  Japan is an outlier with an embarrassing policy that destroys parental-child relationships of not only my children, Gunnar and Kianna Berg, but hundreds of thousands of children within Japan.

   

  By Douglass Berg

  Loving father of Gunnar and Kianna Berg

  *Quotes from Rep. Chris Smith are from a July 21, 2011 press release issued from his office and can be read in its entirety at http://chrissmith.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=253265

• Happy Holidays 2011 - "I Am One"

  The parents from BACHome would like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday season.  This time of year is very hard for all left-behind parents since we cannot be with our kids who have been abducted to Japan.  Hopefully they will see this video and know that we love them and miss them very much.  Our love goes out to them.

   

   

• The New Normal

  Since my children were abducted to Japan two years ago, I have learned to live with a new normal. Very few things in my life are the same now that I don’t have access to my children. I went from playing with Gunnar and Kianna or teaching them about life, to wondering how they are doing without a loving father in their life. Virtually no aspect of my daily life is the same anymore, nor do I expect it to return to the old normal. 

  Take for instance answering a simple question like ‘Do you have kids’.  This no longer requires a simple answer and often leads into a very long discussion about Japanese child abductions.  I guess I can answer ‘no’ and live with the guilt of denial.  I really don’t want to talk about child abduction. I want to talk about how my kids are doing in school, what they dressed up as for Halloween, or brag about how good they are at soccer.    

  I often ponder why something this horrible is happening to me; or, how could a country like Japan could be such a haven for international child abduction.  Understanding this type of cruelty is beyond my comprehension. One of harder aspects to deal with is the lack of support from our own government – the Department of State. We have thousands of children abducted to other countries around the world and these children are nothing but pawns in the game of international chess.   Knowing that my own children are expendable in the game of international diplomacy while hearing the words ‘we place the highest priority on your children’ makes me sick right to the core of my stomach.    

  There is no doubt that things sure are different now.  I went from complaining about our political system to finding myself walking the halls of Congress on Capitol Hill. I went from reading websites to developing websites; from watching highlights of protests on TV to organizing them outside the Japanese Embassy.  Probably the biggest change in my life is having silent daily break downs in meetings, at my desk and in my man cave.  I have cried more in the last two years then I did the first 35 of my life.  I have a real life never-ending sad picture show playing over and over in my head. 

  Every day seems to begin with a struggle, it continues throughout the day, and then I get to reflect upon those struggles at night. Struggling is the only way a parent with abducted children makes it through an hour, a day, or a week. I guess as a left behind parent I need to learn to live through a situation I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

• Child Abduction and Abuse

  It is hard to imagine being separated from your children through abduction.  It is also hard to believe that one parent cares more about hurting their ex-spouse than they do about the welfare of their children.  These situations are so hard it is hard to comprehend.  Many people probably think that the left behind parent is a child abuser. However, if you delve into the details of the cases and study the situation, you will discover that the child abusers are in fact the abductors.  Here are a few logical facts to consider.

  -  If one abuses her child, she will be denied visitation in the USA or have court supervised visitation.

  -  Did you ever consider that a parent will abduct her child to another country to avoid the law?  I have discovered many abductors have checkered pasts and want to escape embarrassment.

  While I suffer everyday knowing my ex-wife, Naoako Numakami, has abducted our children I have some reasonable assurances they are safe from physical abuse.  I have spoken with fathers who know their kids are being physically abused by their ex-spouses.  The abductors took the kids before authorities came to arrest them or before it could be proven in US Courts.  In Japan, child abuse by women was flatly ignored by Japanese courts which can’t seem to believe that women can beat their kids.   This is ironic considering they have often witnessed it in their own homes.

  However, I have NO assurances from mental child abuse.  I have witnessed my ex-wife treat our son and daughter with such disrespect and with such force you would think she is a direct reincarnation from a long line of dictators.  Her verbal abuse toward the kids was unbearable.  You won’t believe what I watched unless you saw it on camera. Something I now wish I did.  I suffer so much knowing this is going on.

  I fight every day to survive a day without some kind of mental break down as so many other left behind parents have done.  Of all life’s challenges, this one is by far the hardest to understand and to deal with.  It is flat out pathetic that nothing has been done to date to stop the Japanese from raiding our kids.  Toyota knowingly put cars with faulty brakes on the street killing people; fishermen kill dolphins and whales for no logical reason other than Japanese arrogance; and now, I have discovered they are openly and willingly commit kidnapping.  Simply because we are not Japanese Nationals we have no right to see our kids.

  No matter how hard Naoko Numakami tries to separate me from my kids, I will never give up the fight to be with my kids.

  I love you Gunnar and Kianna,

  Daddy