In fact... it is a hot topic ...as in Japan only one parent has legal guardianship after a divorce...the other one becomes a stranger... of course if the parents wish for it they can find an amiable solution and arrange something but legally there is no obligation and it’s still an exception... and it leads to situation like kidnapping by one of the parent etc.. and the other one has little to no rights... it is even worse if one of the parent is not Japanese... there are a lot of stories you can read online about Non Japanese parent fighting for Japan to respect their rights to see their children after a divorce and even cases when they are arrested because they tried to see their child after the Japanese parent took the kid away... they can even be refused to enter the country ...
Interesting, thanks for the info! I had heard/read that about child custody laws in Japan, but I wasn't aware of all the issues it is causing. It's awful that the law is so backwards, I feel so sorry for parents who are prevented from being in their childrens' lives.
Purely for this manga, that almost makes it worse, though, that the mum is getting attacked for not being with her daughter. Let's face it, "Sensei" would have been a shitty useless husband. Seems like he sat back and had her do everything because he's "bad at it" - and when she left, he didn't even try to improve himself, he just replaced her with his ex-student! He sucks. Who would want to be married to him?? But if he was the main income-earner (since Japan is also... behind the times... when it comes to married women with kids working), he might have been the 'better' choice for custody.
Is it a Japanese cultural thing that so many manga seem to portray a marriage breakup as child abandonment?? Do they not understand that even if a marriage ends, the kids can still have a great relationship with the parent they don't primarily live with? Or is it just for the sake of drama and plot that they do it this way? Not all manga are like this, but most are, so I'm wondering.
It really pisses me off, to be honest. Why should people stay in a marriage that isn't working? It's such an old-fashioned way of thinking. It's not good for the couple OR their kids in the long run. If the parents are both normal people (they don't have to be unnaturally good, just NORMAL parents who love their kids) there's no reason to think they're "abandoning" their child if they leave a marriage that doesn't work.
This is a massive peeve of mine, if anyone couldn't tell!