i need to know if in japan, do japanese grandparents have any legal
vistation rights when both parents are japanese, and they are refused
visatation rights with their grandchildren. if grandparents are
refused the right to vist with their grand children, do they have any
legal recourse open to them as we do here in america. if so, could you
elaborate and point me to a place where i could do more research.

This site may be able to help you, and they have a forum you can post
your question to also.

2. In Japan, however, there are no joint custody laws, only sole
custody. Also, visitation rights are not stipulated in any laws, so
there are many cases in which parents with no custody rights after
divorce are kept from seeing their own children. One can appeal for
visitation through arbitration, but the considerable time needed and
the unreliability of the courts often compels the plaintiff to
withdraw the appeal. While parents have difficulties seeing their sons
and daughters, it goes without saying that there are no written
visitation rights for grandparents either. Out of all the G8 and
developed countries of the world, Japan is virtually the only country
that does not have joint custody or visitation rights.

http://www.crnjapan.com/press/2004/en/20040311-fws_speech.html

sorry forgot the link