Despite much promise and a flurry of activity, it didn't happen: Japan failed to ratify the Hague Convention on international child abduction and pass the extensive piece of accompanying domestic legislation the government felt was necessary in order for it to do so. Both items on the Diet agenda were left up in the air when it closed for business on Sept. 8, with an election for the House of Representatives expected to be held before the end of the year.

This is a most unfortunate result, particularly for the children of feuding international marriages who will continue to face the risk of being spirited to abduction-friendly Japan by one of their parents. For those who have already lost children to Japan this way and the foreign diplomats and others who have been calling on Japan to ratify the treaty for years, the Diet's failure may seem like more of the same: yet another excuse to be thrown up by a government that has no intention of signing a widely adopted international convention.

Readers familiar with my past writings on the subject will doubtless characterize me as a major-league cynic when it comes to the government's stance on child abduction. Furthermore, I continue to have my doubts about whether ratification would have made any difference given the proposed legislation that would have gone with it. Yet, I do not believe there is any great conspiracy involved in this particular development.