Paper Sings

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I asked DFAT what its passport letters had achieved.
Sixty-nine pages came back. Inside were officials debating who should receive a letter, questioning proposed restrictions, and asking when a case could be closed.
I follow those exchanges to understand the limits of the help offered to families like mine, and what the records could tell me about whether that help ever reached the young people it was meant for.
Transcript available by 30 October.
Source documents: https://www.patreon.com/Paper_Sings/posts/episode-4-what-173351848
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:51 The FOI release: LEX13336
03:59 Tokyo’s proposed boundaries and welfare concerns
06:41 Age and citizenship
09:32 The Embassy website proposal
10:00 Policy questions and case closure
13:37 Families not already known to the Embassy
15:26 Later records and evaluation
16:38 Following the Consular Handbook trail

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Japan’s custody law has changed. But what does that mean for families who have already spent years apart?
In this extended episode, I follow the records behind the reform, the families its headline figures overlook, and the gap between parental authority and actual contact.
For my daughter, adulthood had already changed the question. What could reform offer us now?

Episode transcript available by 27 October.
Correction: The visitation figures cited in this episode at timestamp 9.40 cover divorced and never-married single-parent households combined, not divorced households alone. For divorced households alone, the figures are 32.7% and 48.4%, respectively.
10:30 — The ABC also reported that Tomoyama’s former partner denied her account of abuse.
Source-document guide (free PDF on the episode post): https://www.patreon.com/Paper_Sings/posts/episode-3-law-173182920
Chapters
00:00 Opening: The Law Changes
01:46 Document 1: The Foreign Minister's letter
03:42 Document 2: Australia's reform submission
05:14 Document 3: International families and the figures
09:30 Document 4: Visitation and family experiences
11:10 Document 5: Practical questions about reform
13:00 Document 6: The Ministry of Justice guide
16:19 Adulthood and the information question
18:23 Bringing the documents together
19:47 Next episode: DFAT's response arrives

I’m Daniel Madden, an Australian teacher and a father who has spent years separated from his daughter in Japan. My search for answers became an investigation into what governments promise families, what they do, and what happens afterwards.
Paper Sings follows that investigation through letters, official replies and documents released under Freedom of Information. This short introduction explains where it began and how to follow it.
Start with The File Opens. Paper Sings is free to listen to. For the choices, doubts and personal stakes behind the investigation, The View from Below is the paid companion, available through membership here on Patreon.
Paper Sings. What the record reveals.

Free five-minute preview · Full instalment for paid members
How much of an investigation should rest on a personal story? In Something More Durable, I reflect on the experience behind Paper Sings, the limits of media attention, and building a public record that can be tested.
The View from Below explores the choices and reasoning behind the investigation.
Hear the full instalment
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The Australian Embassy in Tokyo confirms that it has sent my daughter a letter about an Australian passport. After years without contact, that is welcome news.
But what does “sent” actually tell us?
I follow the correspondence to discover what the letter is meant to achieve and what government knows about whether it does. A request to send one letter becomes a freedom of information request about what happens after it leaves the Embassy.

(Transcript available from 13 October 2026)
Written and presented by Daniel Madden.
Music: Avalanche by Soulish.