Every Donation Is
1 Step Closer To
Lilly ComingHome

            This will be the hardest thing I’ve ever written in my life. The last five years has been the most traumatic and awful experiences that I would never wish upon anyone, not even the monster (the father of my child) who caused it all. I was coerced into coming back to Japan with my daughter when I thought I would never return. My “husband on paper”, my business partner, the father of my child, asked for me to bring our daughter, Lilly, back to Japan to say goodbye to her paternal grandmother ‘Baba’, as he informed me she was dying of stage 4 cancer, and had little time left on Earth. In the back of my mind, I knew this was not the same as the previous times we visited Japan. Maybe that was my parents who told me not to go, especially my father who told my Mom that if we go back, we may never see them in person again. He has been known to have premonitions that have been spot on for years, if you believe in that sort of thing. All of my family questioned why I would go back to say goodbye to his mother when he has been showing gradual signs of wanting us all to himself for the past few years, not to mention the fact that I caught him in infidelity less than two years prior. However, I wanted to do the right thing, at least what I thought was the right thing. We had some amazing times in the first five years of our relationship. We had talked about marriage and being a family. And he still would tell me how much he loved me, even though his actions said otherwise. But I was holding onto the idea of Lilly having her father in her life, unlike my childhood with my biological father. I had no idea when we returned in February, 2020 of just what he had in store for us. We would be held in another country for 18 months, with no way of returning without his consent. He would put cameras all throughout the house, tell me I wasn’t allowed to speak with my family, telling me that they were no longer my family, that he was our only family now. He would alienate my daughter against me, the daughter he would have never met if it weren’t for me. He would mentally and psychologically abuse me every day, putting me into a state of depression that would cause physical health issues. When I was finally brave enough to search for my daughter’s expired passport, I felt as if I were in an action packed drama you only see in the movies. We had been held against our will for 17 months, with no way to return to our home in Missouri. I had gone to the gym for a normal morning workout to cope with the stress and abuse and call my Mom as that was the only time I could speak with her, when the monster wasn’t around. My Mom told me that Dad said he felt Lilly’s missing passports were in some kind of storage unit. So I left the gym before my workout and rode my bike to our storage unit. I convinced the manager to escort me to our storage unit and to my surprise, the monster had changed the unit’s location. I searched the new unit for a half hour until something pulled me towards a men’s suit garment bag, I unzipped it and closed my eyes, reached in and pulled out both of Lilly’s expired US passport and her Japanese passport. I exited in an overwhelming, panicked excitement, I didn’t even lock the unit behind me. I gave the badge back to the manager and said ‘arigato’ (thank you in Japanese), and called my Mom to tell her I had found the passports! She said, go home, and I will call you back. As soon as I arrived at the prison I called home, my Mom called me and said my Dad and her contacted Ann Wagoner, their local state representative, and received the information that I needed to escape from Japan with my daughter. I had to go pick up Lilly from her daycare which was a battle in itself, flagged an off duty taxi driver, and go towards the US Embassy. On our way, an Officer Kumi called me and asked if my daughter and I were safe? I said yes, and she said make sure you both are here before 2:30pm. We got there at 2:31, Officer Kumi was there waiting at the door. I had to give a sworn statement of all the terrible things my daughter and I experienced in the last 17 months. Lilly was only the second child to receive an emergency passport according to Officer Kumi, and she said to never return to Japan. “I am granting you this emergency passport for Lilly due to extraordinary circumstances and I advise you to never return to Japan because you have no rights here.” I will never forget that statement from Officer Kumi. Next we had to get covid tests to be able to fly home. After that, my Mom wired money to my card so I could get a taxi to the airport. At the airport, my parents helped us purchase two tickets home for $13,500. It was declined five times due to the amount and being overseas, but my parents called and they pushed it through and it finally came through as approved! It seemed surreal, multiple climaxes going through security, customs, looking over my shoulder to see if he had found us. My phone constantly vibrating with incoming calls and text messages of him asking where we were. When we finally made it home to Saint Charles, MO, Lilly ran to and into my Mom’s arms and started crying, I could barely stand up, I even fell to the ground. I slept for 24 hours straight at my parents house. They wanted to take me to the hospital, as I was pale and frail, and told them I hadn’t had a regular appetite for months. But when I came to, he had messaged me that he was sorry, and it was all his fault and that he took full responsibility for why we left the way we did. The coming months would be a roller coaster of emotions. Getting my daughter the therapy she needed, then myself, and me realizing what he had put Lilly and I through, it was an uphill battle, but we were finally free from the abuse and the imprisonment that he put us in. Time flew by as I got her into school, soon followed by filing for divorce and full custody. He would beg us to come back, apologize and tell us it would be different, followed by threats such as, “If you don’t drop this divorce and return now, just wait until you see what I will do to you.” Thinking it was almost over as the day was about to come for the divorce to go though in March of 2022, I received something I had never heard of when a man served me papers in my parent’s driveway. It stated that I had violated the Hague Convention, and that I had “wrongfully removed Lilly from her ‘habitual residence’ without the monster’s permission”! What the hell is the Hague Convention I thought? I would soon find out. I hired an attorney who taught The Hague at the most prestigious law school in Missouri, Washington University. He told me that I would make a perfect witness, and that I had a strong case. After giving my attorney mountains of evidence for months, going through hours of depositions, and five hours on the stand in federal court in the Eastern District of Missouri, my attorney who appeared to be very ill, said I did a great job. Then came the day when his assistant called me and told me that the judge had found that the monster’s arguments were correct, and that we were to be ordered to return to Japan to go through custody proceedings in the Japanese Family Court. My heart sank, how could this monster keep getting away with this after what he had done to us? Why would the judge send an American citizen who was born in the United States to a foreign country where she had been abused and had to escape from? I was crashing as the days drew near to where I had to hand her over to the monster in front of US Marshals, but I knew I had no choice but to be strong for my daughter. On November 29^th, 2022, the worst day of my life came, and it continues to this day. I still have nightmares of her being pulled from my arms and her screaming, “Don’t take me from my Mommy! I don’t want to be with Daddy! I want Mommy!” I still see the tears in the US Marshals eyes, my future brother in law and my friend picking me up off the cold, hard marble floor of the federal courthouse. Days later, I would watch my sister get married, with my heart shattered into a million pieces, as Lilly was supposed to be the flower girl. I put on a smile for my sister and family, but I knew I would be fighting for my daughter’s life in just a few days as my flight was already booked to return from the country that I had escaped. I had no idea what was in store for me, as I had a $26 a night hostel booked three blocks from the house we had lived and had to meet the Japanese attorney that I had retained from the US Embassy’s website after borrowing money from my Mom’s best friend. I would go to the home we had escaped the next day only to find the mailbox covered, the shutters boarded up, and the locks superglued so I could not use my key. I filed a missing persons report for my daughter, as it was ordered by the Hague for us to return with neither of us having full custody at this time. But the monster knew exactly what he was doing. Once he had Lilly in Japan, he knew he had all the power and that I was just a ‘dumb American’ who had zero rights in Japan, not even to my daughter. He was hiding in a hotel with my daughter and his new girlfriend, even though the judgement stated neither of us had full custody. I spent seven months fighting for my daughter, told many times I would finally get to see her when the Family Court of Japan would interview us together, but the monster forbid it. I had to fight countless lies thrown at me from all directions questioning my character, my parenting ability and my mental health. After seven months and $80,000 wasted, I returned home. I continue to this day, with zero contact, not hearing her voice or seeing her face since that dreadful morning in November of 2022. It has been almost three years now, but I’m not close to giving up. I have learned many things over the past six years, and each day I continue working towards getting her away from that monster. I have spoken with over 20 different lawyers looking for ways to overturn my case and save Lilly. I have spent countless hours and dollars trying to figure out what happened, and I’m looking for any help I can get. My ultimate goal is to get my daughter back, but if I can help raise awareness on the xenophobia from a supposedly first world country such as Japan, and help anyone else in similar situations, that will be an extra incentive to help realize that these past few years hasn’t been a complete waste of time, money and emotional trauma.

In October of 2010, I was living in Miami managing a Mandarin Oriental Spa and Resort while working on my startup skincare business Natural Nest. One morning at the spa, in walked Naoteru Tsuruta, a man who introduced our team to Shinso Skin Care, LLC. I was initially intrigued how he talked about his company. I had recently read about Shinso in People magazine, so I was excited to learn more. His background was in water filtration and using the purest of water to formulate his four products. While I was in favor of going with Shinso, the rest of our team ultimately decided to go with a different, more established skincare line, Espa. I relayed the news to Nao in a follow up meeting over sushi and tea, and he expressed interest in hiring me as a cosmetic chemist/director of sales to reformulate and develop new skincare products for Shinso Skin Care. I was excited about the prospects of joining an up and coming skincare line, but I had to focus on paying the bills. Nao would continue to pursue me for the business over emails and texts over the next six months.

In late April, 2011, Nao offered to fly me to New York to work a Shinso Skin Care event and to introduce Shinso to the Today Show cast. He showed me a sneak peak into his world. We ate at fancy restaurants, I was put up in a lavish hotel, and he introduced me to celebrities such as Kathie Lee Gifford, Al Roker, Matt Lauer, Natalie Morales and more. He introduced me to movie producers, famous photographers for Miss USA and Miss Universe who applied Shinso products to their actors and models. Before I returned to Florida, he had offered me a full time position with Shinso in Scottsdale, Arizona. I was beyond excited, but had to tie up some loose ends before I could accept his offer.

I had been in a relationship with a man for just over four years. I moved with him for his residency as he was working towards becoming a neurologist. I moved to West Virginia and then to Miami for him, helping him throughout the process, but something was missing. He was extremely selfish, and did not care about my goals or what I wanted to accomplish in life. We were on the outs for months, but I had to do the right thing and tell him I intended on taking the job with Shinso and was moving to Arizona. I packed my things and he ignored me, like he thought I was joking or making a scene. When I left, he didn’t even say goodbye to me. On June 11^th, 2011, I took a leap of faith and flew to Arizona to start my new life with Shinso Skin Care.

Nao had arranged for a temporary apartment for me until I could find my own place and gave me a starting salary of $75,000. Nao told me he had a son named Kai, and that his marriage to his wife Heidi was ending soon. Nao had been sleeping at his office and asked if I wanted to meet his son to which I declined. I was focused on my new job, and didn’t want to get involved with his personal life. I was to reformulate his products and develop new ones and he didn’t even have a lab! I took the initiative, and told him what we needed, and he would get it. It was an amazing feeling to have someone who was willing to focus on the business first. We were making changes at a rapid pace and I was quickly making things happen for Shinso, and then Nao asked me out. I was attracted to him, he was a good looking man with amazing skin, but what attracted me the most was his intelligence, ambition and love for his business.

Nao took me out for dinner and saki in the fall of 2011, and things moved quickly. I didn’t have many friends in Arizona yet, and Nao only had his son every other weekend. I still hadn’t met Kai, until one Sunday Nao picked me up in his Mercedes and there he was in the back seat. I fell in love instantly. Nao and I shared many interests besides our affection for skincare and Shinso. We loved to exercise and treat our bodies well. We enjoyed the same food and drinks, and we would do most things together. It seemed like we dated for over a year, but it only been a few months before he moved in with me.

Shortly after Nao moved in with me, I got a call from my landlord. Even though I signed a two year lease, he informed me I had two weeks to move out as he needed to move in. Nao was wrapping up his divorce and asked if we should move into his house. I agreed. The house was something that you would see out of the magazine Architectural Digest. It was a six bed, eight bath, over 7,000 square feet and had appraised over four million dollars. My Mom came to visit us in February and again in May of 2012. It was the May visit when we got the scare from Kai, he had an asthma reaction that landed him in the ICU. This would be the first time I would meet Nao’s ex wife, Heidi. She was just like he had described her, a blonde haired, scandalous dressed, and what he described to me as ‘ditsy’. She didn’t seem too concerned that her son was in the ICU. She seemed relieved that I was there taking care of him, and took off abruptly like she had somewhere better to be. Nao had described her as only caring about herself, and told me one day she took everything out of the bank accounts, all her things, the jewelry and cash while he was away on business. I had no idea until later that Heidi spoke with my Mom and warned her about Nao. She told my Mom to never let me go to Japan with Nao, that he would never let me go home and keep me away from my family. Even had my Mom told me that, I wouldn’t have believed her. I trusted Nao, and he played the victim well.

In August of 2012, the divorce was final and the house was put up for sale. I got us a condo in Scottsdale and focused on the business. I was now making around $250,000 with Shinso as I had landed our biggest account in Austin, Texas. I discussed investing into the business and becoming a partner. Nao took me to Japan for the first time in the fall of 2012. He showed me the manufacturer, and how the products were mass produced. He introduced me to his parents and we came back to Arizona. I soon learned that Nao was ordered to pay Heidi over $10,000 a month in alimony and child support since the divorce was finalized. Nao let me become a partner with Shinso Skin Care, I invested roughly $80,000 and Nao put me on as a joint 50/50 owner. It was now April or May of 2013, and I was on my way to pick up Kai from school as it was our weekend to have him. As I was pulling up to the pickup area, I saw Heidi with two police officers. Nao called me and was freaking out. He said Heidi was trying to have him arrested for not paying her child support and alimony. He told me he was going to London to open a Shinso office there, but also that there was a warrant for his arrest! Little did I know that our relationship would become intercontinental.

After a few months, I realized he wasn’t planning on coming back. We talked over the phone and I told him I wasn’t staying in Arizona if he wasn’t coming back. So I shut down our office in Arizona and packed everything up and moved back to Miami, Florida in August of 2013. I had many contacts there and some really good friends who could help me through not having Nao. Just over a month later, Nao surprised me at my place. He stayed for about a week in September, but then he was off again to London. He begged me to come visit him in London and see what he had been doing with the business there. I told him he needed to come back and rework his alimony and child support and fight for his son, but Nao wouldn’t listen to me. It was always about how I needed to come to London and all the different places in Europe he could take me. Nao continued to beg me to come to London, and I finally gave in. London was beautiful, and I enjoyed being back in Nao’s company. He would take me places and show me the world in a short amount of time. We went to Bali, Indonesia, where we had to layover in Singapore. This is where we got the most exciting news, the owner of Kiehl’s skincare, a skincare competitor offered to purchase our company and formulations for roughly 8 million dollars. Nao declined without my input, she went up to 12 million dollars, and Nao again declined without my input. I was frustrated as we could have started a new line with that money and he could get out of his bench warrants and see his son again, but he didn’t care about my opinion nor did he seem to care about getting his rights to Kai back.

We were in Paris for Valentine’s Day 2014, then we went to Dublin for a meeting and I returned to the US to focus on overseeing our domestic distributors. I didn’t see Nao for months, but he begged me to come back to London. I returned around October of 2014. Once I got there, we went to Japan for a short trip in November of 2014 and returned. I was ill as we traveled from London to Italy. I had no idea that my entire life was about to change. It was Thanksgiving Day that I learned I was pregnant! I was so excited as I wasn’t supposed to be able to have children. I had cervical cancer in my early 20’s that I survived when the doctor said I would never have children. I couldn’t wait to tell Nao, but I will never forget the reaction from the father of my child. He said, “Oh great, now how am I going to pay for this one.”

I was beyond hurt and I didn’t even know how to respond. All I knew, was that I wanted to get away from him and get to my family who would support me through the pregnancy as I was already having extreme morning sickness. I told him to come with me to Florida or Missouri to help with the pregnancy, but he said he couldn’t because of the warrants. So I flew back to Miami in December of 2014, packed my things and flew home to Saint Charles. I stayed with my parents until March of 2015, I returned to Miami as I had a Shinso event I had to attend. Nao showed up and saw me pregnant for the first time and he told me I had gotten fat. He woke me up the next morning at quarter till 5am and took me to the gym! It didn’t last long. In April of 2015, my best friends Ana and Danny hosted a baby shower for both Nao and myself. I told Nao, but he drove me there and dropped me off. He didn’t even walk me in! He said he didn’t have time for that. No one could believe what an asshole he was. Danny wanted to kick his butt. I was miserable, my feet were swollen and all Nao wanted to do was go out later that night and drink. He forced me to come with him and I told him I was leaving and he chose to stay at the bar. I was in too much pain and way too tired to realize how selfish he was being. It wasn’t much longer, he told me he was going back to London. I begged him to stay and take care of me and pleaded for him to come to my brother’s wedding in June, but he left me all alone again.

I flew back to Missouri and had my baby shower with my family on May 4^th, just one day before my birthday. June 14^th I attended my brother’s wedding, alone and seven months pregnant. Shortly after, Nao begged me to fly back to Miami while I was seven months pregnant, so he could be at the birth of our daughter. I told him I wanted her to be born in Saint Louis around my family, but Nao bullied me, insisting this was the only way he could be there for the birth. I reluctantly flew to Miami, and once I arrived, I called Nao and asked when he was flying in? He told me he couldn’t come anymore because Heidi put the warrants back on in Florida. Immediately, my blood pressure went high, I was so infuriated with Nao. I called my Mom, and she flew down as soon as she could to help me as I couldn’t fly back due to my blood pressure. My due date wasn’t until late August, but I my blood pressure had risen so high it became a threat to the babies life and my own. The doctor said I needed an emergency C-Section. I remember lying there being so scared for the both of us. On July 20^th, 2015, Lilly Rose Tsuruta was born.

Lilly was taken from me surgically, and there were complications where I lost a lot of blood. The doctors rushed me out of the room to recovery, I didn’t even get to hold her. I was in recovery for six hours, the doctors did an amazing job, but I almost died that day. Nao was nowhere to be seen. A few weeks later, my Mom flew back to Saint Charles and prepared Lilly’s nursery while I was healing and packing. Mom then flew back to Miami towards the beginning of August where Lilly, my Mom, and I flew back to Saint Louis to be with all my family and friends. Nao was flying all over the world, but never came to see me or his daughter. I was with my family until the end of May 2016, Nao had been begging for us to fly to London so he could meet his daughter as he still blamed the warrants. It had been ten months, he didn’t seem to care during the pregnancy, nor the birth, nor the first ten months of her life, why now?

Against my better judgement, Lilly and I flew to London for a visit at the end of May 2016. He had so much control over me, and I’m just now realizing he played on my emotions. He knew that I didn’t have any resemblance of a relationship with my biological father. He knew that bothered me, and he knew I always wanted to be a mother and have a family. I fly my ten month old baby across the Atlantic for Nao to meet his daughter. The one he was concerned that was going to cost too much while he’s flying all over the world to do business. It wasn’t even a week into the trip when I was trying to do some work for Shinso on his laptop that pictures and videos popped up of Nao with another woman on vacation in Italy and at the beach. He had been cheating on me! I was so angry, I confronted him and he tried lying about it saying it was a business contact, but she was in a bikini on the beach with champaign! I threw his laptop at him, and his phone. I said that we were flying back home immediately, to which he said NO. He said we were staying in London with him, and he wasn’t letting us leave. He informed me he booked us all tickets to Japan so his family could meet Lilly.

In June of 2016, we flew to Japan. I wanted Lilly to meet his paternal side of her family, so even though I was forced to go, I was happy for Lilly. I told Nao I wanted to be home for her first birthday, around the people who spent the most time with her the first ten months of her life. But Nao had already planned for us to stay in Japan for her birthday. I was so angry with him, but he told me we could go home after her birthday and celebrate it there after. I didn’t have a choice. So we celebrated her birthday in Japan without my family, Nao didn’t even want me to call my family. In August, we had our flights, but they were back to London! He said he wasn’t letting us go home and that we were a family now and we needed to be with him. I wasn’t able to get away from him until March of 2017, where Lilly and I finally flew back to Miami to finalize our move back to Saint Charles, Missouri. We were finally home in March and got to celebrate Mom’s birthday together.

We were home for five months and got to celebrate Lilly’s second birthday with all our family and friends, but Nao and his family were not present. Nao was constantly calling me, making me feel guilty about being home. He said he couldn’t come back to the United States, and I was keeping his family away from him. I don’t know how he had this much control over me, but we flew back to London at the end of July 2017.

He got a new flat in London, and made us celebrate Christmas in London, again. I wanted to go home, but he kept controlling me, and by March of 2018, Nao made us go on another visit to Japan. He said this trip was for business, he was looking for an apartment so when we would visit, we would have a place for the summers. It was March 19, 2018, a day I try to block out of my memory. We were staying at a hotel in Tokyo, close to the US Embassy. Nao handed me a piece of paper in Japanese and told me to sign it. I told him I couldn’t read any of it and asked what was it for? Nao told me it was for me to establish temporary residency and to get Lilly and I free healthcare. So I signed it and he took us to the US Embassy where his father met us. I thought that was strange and when it was our turn, the lady said congratulations Mrs. Tsuruta, you’re married. He had tricked me into signing a marriage certificate! (Or so I thought for the last seven years) I said no, no, this is wrong. We only had one discussion about marriage that ended up in an argument because Nao wanted it in Japan, and I in the United States. He had never proposed to me, he never asked me, and there was nothing I could do. I begged him to go back in and explain what happened and reverse it, but he told me it wasn’t a big deal, and if I didn’t agree that I could leave but Lilly was staying with him! Only a monster would do the things he did, and this was only the beginning.

Nao forced me to stay in Japan until he let Lilly and I fly back to Saint Louis in June of 2018, but he told me I could only stay awhile. Just before we left, I found out that Nao had added himself and our CPA onto my individual accounts, including my personal savings. In the past he would just ask me to wire funds from my personal accounts if we were low on product and the business accounts were low, but now he had the power to do it all himself. And why would he add our CPA onto the accounts? I kind of blocked that argument out as Lilly and I were headed back to Saint Charles. I was so happy to be home, we had Lilly’s third birthday party and stayed until the end of September. My Mom had wanted to see London, so we agreed with her there, it would make the trip easier for us. Lilly, my Mom and I flew to London and she stayed with us for about a month.

In London, Nao would act stranger and stranger. Mom was enjoying the sights on her vacation, but she was witnessing Nao’s controlling behavior as well as some things that were completely out of the ordinary, even for Nao. One day Mom was in the closet to get something for Lilly and found a suitcase full of credit cards, hundreds if not thousands of them from all over the world. When Mom confronted Nao, he would say even stranger things, asking how much money she brought with her and where she kept it. He finally told Mom he was in the Japanese mafia, whether that’s true or not, Mom did not think it was very funny. I told Nao that Lilly, my Mom and I were going home which started a big argument. I told him that I was raising Lilly in Saint Charles with my family and friends and all he wanted to do was keep us isolated from everyone but himself. As we were getting closer to leaving, Nao told me that I couldn’t leave with Lilly. He told me he was taking my Mom to the airport and that I wasn’t allowed to leave. He told my Mom that she would not see Lilly and me for a long time, that she would have to come to Japan if she wanted to see Lilly or me.

Not even a month later, movers showed up to our flat and started packing things. I called Nao, and he said we were going to Japan to focus on the business there. I couldn’t stop the movers nor Nao. We were on a flight to Japan and things continued to get weirder. He moved us into the apartment that was supposed to be for “summer visits” and got a storage unit for our things that couldn’t fit. Then one day I got a call from my Dad, he said someone was there to pick up my car, a Mercedes Bens. Nao had sold it while we were in Japan! I begged Nao for months to let Lilly and I go home, but there was always an excuse. Nao would say, I need you for the business, I need you for an event, his Mom is sick, we don’t have the money, et cetera. Almost a year had gone by, and my Grandma Van was sick, as well as my Grandpa Lael. I wanted to say goodbye and told Nao, it led to a big argument with him saying I wasn’t allowed to leave. So while he was sleeping, I went online and booked tickets for Lilly and I to fly home. When Nao found out, he was furious. He said I never asked his permission to leave, yet I said I had been asking since we got there!

We were finally home in November, 2019 and I was sure I was never going back. Lilly was happy to be back at our home with Grandma and Grandpa. Nao began calling us and begging us to come back to Japan. He said his Mother was dying of stage four lung cancer and wanted Lilly to say goodbye to her before she passed. I told him we were staying as Grandpa Lael had just passed, but Grandma Van who was getting better started to take a turn for the worse. Nao started calling my parents and tried to use the same guilt trip on them. In late January, we said goodbye to Grandma Van as she went in her sleep. Nao put all the attention on him and his “dying mother”. He bullied my parents and me, and I finally gave in, thinking it was the right thing to do. Nao said we could return after helping with his Mom in the spring. I figured I could just book another flight like I did only a few months ago, but I could not have been more wrong.

Lilly and I was about to fly to Japan, my Dad pleaded with me not to get on that flight. He told my Mom that we may never see them again. My Dad has had some premonitions come true in the past, but I thought I was doing the right thing. On our flights to Japan, I noticed Lilly’s passport needed to be renewed soon. Once we got to Japan, things got worse. Nao said I was going to pay for disobeying him. Covid came, and when I told Nao we needed to renew Lilly’s passport, he said, “I’m not renewing her passport now because you’re not going anywhere, when I decide to renew it, I’ll let you know”.  He said we were never going home! When I went to the drawer that had our passports, they were gone. I asked him where they were, and he said don’t worry about it, they’re somewhere safe. I said, “I’m her mother, and I have the right to have access to them, what if there was an emergency or what if we have to go home?” He said, “Don’t worry about it, you’re never going home. I am your only family. You will obey me and my parents, and if you don’t, there will be consequences.” Not even a week later, I received a call from my Sun Trust Merchant informing me I had insufficient funds in my business account. Sun Trust wanted to know why I pulled such large sums of money out of all my accounts? I said, “what?!? I didn’t authorize any sums of money out of my accounts.” The lady told me Mr. Tsuruta authorized it. When I went online to check my accounts, my credit cards had been maxed out, my personal individual checking account was drained as well as my savings, and our business account was empty. I had no money, no passports and Nao told me if I ever tried leaving again, he would kill me!

I told my parents, but covid was happening, everything was shut down. There was nothing I could do but play the game that I was a loving and obeying wife with him. I tried to tell Nao I wanted a divorce, and that he was holding us prisoners, but that just led to bigger arguments, so I tried to play the game. Then in October of 2020, we were driving by and he asked me about a house, a nice place, two stories located off the beach of Fujisawa. He asked what I thought, and I told him its nice but I thought you said we had money issues. How could we afford it? Not even a few weeks later, he said we were moving from the apartment to the house he showed me while driving a new $80,000 Mercedes he had just bought! And I wonder what happened to all the money that he transferred out of my American accounts?

As soon as our things were moved in, I noticed cameras in Lilly’s room. I told Nao I didn’t want a camera in there, he shrugged me off. Then I started noticing other cameras in the house too. They were in the living room, the kitchen, and the front of the house. Nao wouldn’t let me call my parents. He told me they are no longer my family and that he was our only family now. The only time I could speak to my Mom was when I went to the gym. We were prisoners! I asked about my credit cards and bank accounts, he said we didn’t need to worry about that because I was never going back to the States. Nao would give me a preloaded debit card for groceries, less than a hundred dollars, there was no way for me to go home. The parental alienation started as soon as we got there in 2020, and it would get worse and worse. I wasn’t allowed to drive in Japan. I couldn’t take my daughter to her daycare, nor pick her up unless I had his permission. I would continue to beg for a divorce and to let Lilly and I go home, and he would tell me I had to obey him and his parents and that “no one leaves a Tsuruta!”. He would tell Lilly that, “Mommy is lucky we let her be in our family”. He told Lilly I didn’t know how to swim or drive a car. I would cry and Nao would say things like, there goes Mommy crying again, making everything about her. It was hell.

In May of 2021, I went to his parents house and begged them on my hands and knees to help Lilly and I. That’s right, his Mom was still alive. They did nothing. Actually, it was worse, they told Nao that I told them he was keeping us like prisoners. He told me I would pay for that. He would take Lilly on Friday’s after daycare and just take off for the weekend without me. Who knows what he was telling her. I begged everyone for help. There was nothing I could do.

It was October 15^th, 2021, Nao was going to Tokyo for a meeting. I went to the gym and spoke with my Mom on the phone just before my workout. She asked, “Honey, do you still have your storage unit that has all your Shinso stuff in?” I told her yes I do. Mom said Dad had a premonition that the passports are in a storage unit. Mom told me while Nao is gone, why don’t I go check the storage unit, do you think you can get in? I said I will try, and got on my bicycle and rode to the storage unit three blocks away. I walked into the storage facility and told the manager, “I am Sarah Tsuruta, the owner of Shinso Skincare and Nao’s wife and that I needed to get into the storage unit to grab some clothes.” He asked if I knew what unit I was in and if I had my badge. I told him no, I hadn’t been here for awhile. He asked if I had identification and I showed him my Shinso business card. He gave me a lanyard with a key to the elevator and he escorted me to our storage unit on the third flood. To my surprise, Nao had switched the location of the storage unit. He unlocked our unit and I immediately started searching through boxes for over thirty minutes. Then something gravitated me towards a men’s suit garment bag hanging from a rack above. I unzipped the garment bag, and saw two black men’s suits in there. I closed my eyes, I reached into the left pocket of the first suit and pulled out two passports, I opened my eyes and there they were. I had finally found them! I started crying, and I immediately stuck them into my sports bra and zipped my jacket up and I turned around, jumped over boxes, slammed the door and took off towards the elevator. I went to the manager and returned the badge and said arigato (thank you in Japanese), he said you are welcome, see you soon.

I called my Mom, and told her I found the passports. She started crying, and pulled herself together and said to go to the house, I will call you soon. I got home, and texted her I was home. A few minutes later, Mom called and said that my Dad and her spoke with Ann Wagoner’s office, our state representative in Missouri, and she told us how to facilitate to get Lilly and I to the US Embassy in Tokyo and an officer would be calling me soon. She said to go ahead and pack two bookbags for Lilly and me, which I threw together in a matter of minutes. A few minutes later, an officer called and said, “This is Officer Kumi from the US Embassy in Tokyo. I spoke to your parents, where are you?” I told her I was still at the my house and I had packed a couple of bookbags. She asked, where is my daughter? I told her she was in daycare and I have to pick her up at three. She said, I need you to get your daughter out of school and get here no later than 2:30, we will be waiting for you. I went and got on my bike and headed towards her daycare. When I arrived, I flagged down an off duty taxi cab and asked if he could wait for my daughter and I. I went up to the door and said I was Sarah Tsuruta, Lilly’s mom, I need to pick her up now. They told me they didn’t see where she was supposed to leave early on the schedule. I told them she had a doctor’s appointment and we had to be there by 1pm. They said they needed to contact Mr. Tsuruta. One of the teachers who spoke English told me that Nao told them I wasn’t allowed to take her out of school without his permission and that they were all scared of him. I told them he was in a meeting in Tokyo and I am her mother, please go get her as she’s going to her doctor’s appointment. Lilly saw me, ran to me and said, “Mommy, where are we going?” I picked her up and walked downstairs and got into the taxi.

Lilly asked again where we were going and I told her we were going home. She started crying and said, “to Grandma’s”, I told her, “yes baby, to Grandma’s”. She replied, “What if Daddy finds out?” I told her don’t worry about it baby, Mommy’s keeping you safe. I showed the taxi driver the address and to go as soon as possible. Emotions were overflowing as my heart raced, I kept telling the driver to go faster. He informed me he had stop for gas. Lilly told him in Japanese to “hurry up”. While we were in the car, Officer Kumi called and asked where we were, I said we were an hour away. She tried to calm me down and told me we would be safe when got there. She said I will be waiting for you outside with security, we are waiting for you and your daughter. We got there at 2:31pm, my Mom had just wired money to my PayPal account to pay for the cab. When we arrived, security said we could not bring any electronics with us except our phones. I took my laptop out of my bag, gave it to the driver and walked inside the US Embassy with Lilly knowing that Nao was only blocks away from us. Lilly and I walked through security and Officer Kumi greeted us, and escorted us through the US Embassy. We were the only ones there except for the staff, they all said they had been waiting for us. They gave Lilly crayons and brought me into a separate room where Officer Kumi asked me a series of questions. One that I will never forget was if I had gone to the police department or hospital and reported the abuse. I told her no. She told, “You’re a smart girl. If I would have, they would have called Nao and they wouldn’t believe a word you said because you have no rights in this country.” I said this is the US Embassy though, aren’t you supposed to protect American citizens? She said, but you are on Japanese soil and you have no rights here. Your husband knew exactly what he was doing. I told her I wanted to file kidnapping charges. She said, while this is a form of kidnapping, you’d have to go to the Japanese police to file that and you won’t be able to leave because they will inform him. I went on and gave her my sworn statement of all that had transpired over the last 17 months.

Fifteen minutes later she came in to the room where Lilly and I were waiting. She said, “I’ve made my decision, I am granting your daughter this emergency passport because this is an emergency. We don’t normally do this, but this is under extraordinary circumstances. Here is the passport, do you have your covid test and do you have your flight booked?” I said no. She called the covid test center and said we were coming in ten minutes. She also told me that if I don’t get a flight home today, we will have to go to a hotel and he will find you. Lilly and I got our covid tests, and I tried booking a flight on my phone. It wouldn’t go through, but the test center called a cab for me and my Mom wired me more money to pay for the $300 covid tests and taxi to get to the airport. We headed for Narita Airport and I called my Mom to tell her. When we arrived, I looked at the monitor and six flights to the US had been cancelled. So I flagged down an American flight attendant and told her I had an emergency and I needed to get on a flight to the United States immediately. She escorted me to Japanese airlines and said I needed a flight to the United States as soon as possible. They told me there was one flight available to Honolulu and take off was in three hours, you can get a connecting flight once you’re there. I called my parents, and I told them they needed to book a flight for Lilly and I to the Honolulu flight taking off in three hours with a connecting flight to Saint Louis. It took two hours and was declined five times and $13,500 before it finally went through. While waiting for that, Nao wouldn’t stop texting me, asking me if I picked Lilly up from daycare and what we were doing. I played the game and told him everything was fine. After they gave us our tickets, we went through security, and then customs. In customs, they asked if I had my Japanese residency card, and I asked why? He said I need to see it so you can leave and return to Japan, and I said we are US citizens and we are going home. He took the card, went back, looked it up in the computer and my heart was racing. He returned five minutes later and said, this one is expired, do you have the recent one? I said I left it at my house and my husband will be fedexing it for when we return. He said, ok, let them through. We got through and immediately went to eat noodles and gyoza as we had been starving for hours. We patiently awaited for our flight to board and during that time, Nao was blowing my phone up, so I turned it off right before we boarded. As we were going through the boarding line, another officer stopped me and patted me down and searched our bookbags. I thought to myself, this was it, he found us. The officer said, have a safe flight. It was just a routine check. I told Lilly, “We are going home baby.” Once we got over international waters, I could finally breathe. Lilly was asleep in my arms and I let everything out. I cried for the whole six hours to Hawaii and kept whispering in Lilly’s ear, “we are safe baby.”

We had finally escaped the prison in Japan. We flew from Honolulu to Texas to Saint Louis. I hadn’t slept in days, but we were finally home. When we got to the baggage claim area, Lilly took off running to my Mom who was running towards her. They met in a huge hug, and I almost fell to the ground as I hadn’t slept in days. My parents had to help carry my bags and physically walk me to their vehicle. As soon as we got into the car, we both passed out. My parents let me sleep for 24 hours straight, and took care of Lilly who was so excited to be home. When I awoke, my Mom told me what Nao told her. In my Mom’s sworn statement, she said that Nao had called all night and when she finally picked up the next morning after she knew we were safe in Honolulu, Nao was screaming in the phone. My Mom told Nao to calm down and stop screaming. Nao said where is my daughter and Sarah? Mom told him we landed in Hawaii and were safe. Nao asked how did Sarah get a passport for her and Lilly to fly? Mom told him I got an emergency passport from the US Embassy because she signed a sworn statement, and told them that he had held us against our will and took out passports and all the abuse we suffered from him. Mom told me he screamed into the phone, “What, she went to the embassy?!?!” “And where did she get the money for the tickets to come home?” Mom told him her Dad and she paid $13,500 for the tickets. He asked where my Mom got that kind of money and how they didn’t have any money. Then he asked how I got Lilly out of school? He said Sarah needed his permission to get her out of school. That he needed to know where Lilly was at all times! My Mom asked him if he took Lilly and my passport, which he said he did. She asked if he hid them in a storage unit to which he said yes he did. My Mom asked why would he do that? He said because they were never going back to the US. My Mom told him he basically lied to Lilly and me about coming back to live in the US and raise Lilly in Missouri with family. Nao said yes, I lied to them because she knew he couldn’t come back to the US ever! Mom said he started screaming at her saying you are not Sarah and Lilly’s family! Mom told him that she was her mother and Lilly’s Grandma. Nao told her, not anymore and stop trying to steal my family! He told my Mom that I couldn’t stand my own family to which Mom said was a lie and that he didn’t have a good relationship with his own family. She told him he was jealous of our family and that’s why he wanted to keep us away from everyone and that she knew exactly what he was doing. Nao told her, “You ruined my plan!” Mom said he might control, bully and abuse me and Lilly, but he doesn’t intimidate her. She said he started screaming and told her “Sarah is going to regret taking my daughter and wait until she sees what I’m going to do to her!”

After Mom told me all of this, I needed to see a doctor. I was severely underweight, as I quit eating because of the trauma and abuse. I was beyond pale, very little color in my face. Lilly would have tantrums where she just starting screaming and hitting herself. She would go into a closet and scream. We needed therapy fast! Fortunately we found someone who helped us with communication. I still let Nao speak with her over FaceTime if Lilly wanted to, most times she did not. We also found an equestrian therapy place where Lilly met an abused horse. They healed each other. Lilly would start to open up to my Mom and tell her things how Daddy would hit her in the back of the head and bathe with her naked. She asked my Mom, “Grandma, did your Daddy ever bathe with you?” Mom told her no, that would be inappropriate. Lilly said, “my Daddy makes me bathe with him and I don’t like seeing his penis.” Mom asked if he ever touched her down there, and she said no. Thank God! That’s where he would put stuff in her head, and when she didn’t agree, he would program her the way he wanted her.

In November of 2021, I met with an attorney in Saint Charles to see what I needed to do to protect Lilly and myself. I questioned the marriage, because it did not seem like we were married just because I signed a paper in Japanese. After the attorney recommended that it was best if I filed for divorce, I did so in Saint Charles County, and asked about filing kidnapping charges against Nao. I went to three different police stations and got the same answer, they didn’t think they had jurisdiction and to try another place. I told Nao over the phone I was filing for divorce and was never coming back. It was hard, he apologized for all that he did and begged to keep our family together. He said he would be better, and I weirdly felt as though I still loved him. My therapist told me that was normal, and that I would block out certain things that happened because of all the trauma and abuse.

It was March of 2022, things were going well. Lilly was doing good in school and my divorce hearing was coming up soon. It was a few days before the hearing when I was in my driveway, and a man served me with papers for The Hague against me. I said to myself, what the hell is the Hague? I looked into it and immediately started crying. I started looking into this Hague and it said I had taken my daughter from her “habitual residency”, what was that? Lilly was a US citizen, born here and this is where we called home. We had to escape from Japan, how was that her habitual residency? I called attorneys and found one who taught the Hague class at the prestigious Washington University in Saint Louis.

I went and told my lawyer everything, from the abuse to the holding us against our will, to moving us when we didn’t want to be moved. I told him we escaped with an emergency passport for Lilly. I told him how Nao had cameras on us. I told him about the business, and how he took everything from my accounts. I told him how he wouldn’t let me give Lilly a hug or kiss goodbye. I told him about the mental and psychological abuse, the parental alienation, the sexual abuse against me, how he would bathe with Lilly naked. I told him how Nao had done this before, how he tried to keep Heidi and Kai in Japan. I told him how he owed Heidi 4.6 million dollars. I told him about the cameras. I told him how he told me if I didn’t back away from the divorce, that I would see what he would do to me. I told him everything.

My attorney told me we will get on top of this and said I had a strong case. I paid him $5,000 immediately and he started on it that day. I didn’t get how Nao could even file this. Officer Kumi told me we were only the second people to receive emergency passports. She said to never return. How could anyone send a US citizen back to the trauma and abuse?

The next few months flew by. I was trying to help my Mom with her Estate Sale business and take care of Lilly. Nao had been calling every day, and requested to speak with her alone. I remember one day she started screaming and I realized he was still trying to program her and abuse her. He told her when she returned she would receive her punishment. He said he was going to pull her earrings out and shave her head once she got back. I would tell my lawyer these things, but he said the judge wouldn’t care about that and it has nothing to do with the Hague case. I told him it was about protecting a child, my child. My lawyer was extremely arrogant about what his thoughts on the case and what the judge would or would not want to hear. We went through depositions, Nao was allowed to testify over zoom. We had eight hours of depositions. I wasn’t prepared for the deposition, I had never been through anything like that before in my life. We requested information from Nao, basic stuff any attorney would request such as financial records, tax returns, credit card statements. Nao provided nothing. Our CPA, Colleen Hager barely responded to me when I asked for mine. She sent some things that looked like 2018, 19 and 20’s returns, later I would realize they were only drafts. Our trial date was nearing, my attorney asked me three questions via email and sent me a long list of questions he might ask me, but when we went in for our meeting, we didn’t go over anything. He said he wasn’t worried about me and how I’d make the perfect witness because I lived through it. I had no idea what I was walking into.

It was August 5^th, the trial had come and I had to be at the Eastern District of Missouri Federal Court at 8am. I hadn’t slept in two days and guess who visited me that morning, mother nature! My lawyer told me that Nao would testify first, but as soon as we started, I was called to the stand. I was hit for five hours straight. Nao’s attorney would twist things around and make me sound stupid. He asked if Nao had kept me chained in a basement and if Nao took my phone away or why I never cut the cords on the cameras? Or why I didn’t go to the police or a lawyers office in Japan? He asked me if I asked for Nao’s permission to leave Japan? I felt like I was pounded from all angles.

Nao got to testify on zoom again. My lawyer was all over the place, and sweating profusely. He would direct Nao to page numbers and line numbers from our old text messages, and Nao would play the I don’t understand you card. Nao spoke perfect English, but he frustrated my lawyer. When Nao wasn’t driving my lawyer mad, Nao’s attorney was doing so with all the objections. I barely remember any of this, blocked out from the trauma, but when I read the transcripts later, my lawyer kept saying, I’ll just move on then. Nao was maybe on the stand for less than two hours. Frustrated, my lawyer asked for a short recess. My Mom was there for support, as my lawyer wouldn’t let her testify saying she wouldn’t make a good witness. Mom went into a room and had it out with my attorney. She told him he was dropping the ball and asked if he was sick. My attorney told her he was done asking questions and Mom went into a rage. My attorney told her the judge would read everything, and she asked, read what? She told him how a little girl’s life was at stake, but my attorney went back into the courtroom, and when the judge asked him to proceed with questioning Nao, he said no further questions. The judge asked if he was joking. He said no your honor. Before it was over, the judge said there may have been some questions regarding the authenticity of the marriage certificate (this one was in English), and if my attorney wanted to go into that a little more. My lawyer said, no your honor, no further questions.

A month and a half had gone by, and I was eagerly awaiting a call from my attorney. On September 19^th, 2022, my lawyer didn’t even have the guts to call me. I was on my way to pick Lilly up from school when I received the horrifying email from my lawyer. I swerved off the road and had a panic attack. It said that Nao had won and that Lilly was to be returned to Japan at a later date that both parties were to agree to. I immediately responded to ask for him to call me back. He said he was in court. He called me back at 6pm and told me that the judge went the other way and that he told me this could happen. We could request a stay and file an appeal, but it would cost more. I said I didn’t care, this is so wrong, she is fearful for her life around him.

Shortly after, I started reaching out to Nao about how we were going to return to Japan, but he never responded. How was I supposed to arrange when we were to return without speaking with him? I asked my attorney that very question, and he said I can’t make him talk to you, you’re going to have to figure it out. Shortly after, my Mom and I took Lilly to a Pumpkin Patch in Saint Charles, where my mother was approached by a large Sumo looking Japanese man. He told my Mom he wasn’t there to hurt us, but asked if we knew the whereabouts of Nao Tsuruta? Mom said she would tell him exactly where he is, in Japan. The large man replied they had been looking for him for a long time and quietly left. I brought this to my lawyer’s attention, and he said the judge won’t care about this, it is irrelevant. I was irate! So he told me throughout the past six months that the judge wouldn’t care about the abuse in Japan, the threats made directly to me, the threats made directly to Lilly which made her erupt in screaming and crying, the fact that Lilly said she was afraid of Daddy and that he was going to hit her! Then, in our stay request, my attorney did not mention that Lilly feared Nao. The stay was denied, it even said if there was a threat to Lilly, the judge would consider it. I said to ask for another one. To tell about the abuse, again, it was not mentioned. Stay denied.

I took Lilly to visit my aunt at the Lake of the Ozarks. I had a lot going on in my mind, thoughts of protecting my daughter. Many people had offered to hide us, but I didn’t want to be on the run for the rest of my life. I didn’t have service for the week I was there. On our way home, my phone blew up with messages and notifications. We had a zoom meeting with the judge, because Nao and I had not agreed to the terms. The judge ordered me to get a plane ticket for us to return no later than November 25^th. I tried to speak to Nao, he wouldn’t answer. He sent one message while I was away to act like he was trying to cooperate, but now he wouldn’t respond again. I was trying to find the money, my lawyer would drop deadlines the day of. It was crazy. I knew I had to return to Japan, but I also knew that Nao couldn’t step foot onto US soil without being arrested for his warrants. I bought plane tickets after borrowing the money on November 26^th, but we had an emergency hearing on the 28^th, the judge said because I missed the deadline, Nao was already on his way to bring Lilly back himself. I told her I had purchased tickets, but she said it was too late. She said if I asked for more time, she would have granted it. My lawyer sat there on the zoom call and didn’t say a word even though I told him I needed more time. I was speechless. I had to turn over my daughter the next day at the federal courthouse where I was on the stand for five hours. I had to turn my daughter over to the man she feared, a monster. Luckily it was in front of US Marshals, and he had warrants out for his arrest. The next day came and there he was, laughing at me as I was crying, Lilly clinging to me saying “don’t make me go back to him, I want to stay with Mommy! My Daddy is a stranger!” Nao took her from my arms like she was a book bag and threw her over his shoulder, saying you will see Mommy in Japan soon. I fell to the cold marbled floor crying, Lilly screaming for me. My soon to be brother-in-law trying to pick me up with everyone crying and my friend recording everything. My Mom was on her way back from the car bringing Lilly her blanky and her stuffy to comfort her to which Nao tried to decline, but two federal marshals said no, let her say goodbye to her granddaughter. As I was walking out, Lilly was reaching over Nao’s shoulder for me, I reached back and said “I love you baby, I will see you soon, Mommy is coming to Japan.” Federal US Marshals were crying, they told me they have never seen a judge do this before and how sorry they were and how wrong this was. I told them they just handed a child over to a criminal. I thought how could this be happening to us? We had to escape from this man, and he had warrants for his arrest. I was broken beyond anything imaginable, but I knew I soon had to return to the prison we had escaped and fight for my daughter’s life.

It was December 2^nd, my sister’s wedding was the next day. I put on a happy face for my sister and family for the rehearsal and the wedding. The very wedding that Lilly was supposed to be the flower girl. I somehow made it through that, my mind all over the place. I had hired a Japanese attorney, a Mr. Karu Haraguchi on November 30^th, 2022. The order stated that Lilly had to go back to Japan, and that Nao and I had joint custody and had to go through the Japanese Family Court system to decide who would get custody. In Japan, there is only sole custody, no such thing as joint custody. Before I got my covid test to fly back to Japan, I spoke with a federal prosecutor who had become a family friend. I asked him how Nao got through customs, and he told me someone lifted his bench warrants, and the only person able to do that had to be high up, but we would never find out who. I was informed by Mr. Haraguchi that a clinical psychologist, Noriko Odagiri interviewed Lilly December 3^rd-6^th after she had arrived in Japan. The report stated that Lilly said, “I want to go home to my Mommy in the US. Japan is not my home. Are you taking me home? I want my Mommy!” Nao had refused to let Lilly speak with me over the phone. On Tuesday, December 6^th, 2022, I was on my way to the airport when I received a text message that my flight had been canceled even though I had checked in the night before. When I arrived at Lambert Airport in Saint Louis, they said it was canceled in Japan. I asked how he could do that from Japan? They told me this was a HIPPA violation and a form of domestic abuse. They graciously booked me on a different flight. I sent over the details to my US and Japanese attorneys and asked if Mr. Haraguchi could contact the police and have them aware of Nao’s behavior and if they can come to the house with us so I can see my daughter. I messaged that ‘Nao needs to be watched, he’s crazy and I’m afraid for my daughter! I’ll see you soon and I’m praying that you can protect my daughter and I! He needs to be stopped and he needs to be in jail for what he has done to Lilly and I!!! He’s the criminal and he must be pretty scared that I’m coming to Japan to try and cancel my trip!’

I arrived in Japan on December 8^th, 2022, and Midori, Mr. Haraguchi’s assistant met me at the airport and helped me get to my hostel in Enoshima and she graciously accompanied me until the next morning. When I awoke, Midori and I took a taxi to my house in Fujisawa, Japan. When we arrived, the car was gone along with my daughter, dog and the cat. The windows were covered with shutters (not normal), and the door lock was glued so I could not use my key to get into the house. The mailbox was covered up so you couldn’t see the Tsuruta name on it and the house looked abandoned. I was crying hysterically, I called Mr. Haraguchi, and we went to the Fujisawa police department and filed a missing person report on my daughter, Lilly Tsuruta. The detective told me I was brave for coming back to Japan and they filed a report. The following Tuesday, December 13^th, the police called Mr. Haraguchi and informed him that they located Lilly with Nao and his new girlfriend who were in a hotel. They said Lilly was ok but they would not tell me where she was, and Nao refused to let me see or speak with her. Nao told the police detective that their police department told him to hide with Lilly away from her mother. When I first heard that, I didn’t believe it, but what I’ve learned since, it makes complete sense. It’s part of the Japanese culture, ingrained into young minds from their elders. I was fighting an impossible fight.

The hostel I was staying at for $28 a night was a nightmare. I remember waking up to a man staring at me from a close distance watching me sleep! I had to get out of there, as I didn’t feel safe. A friend of mine referred me to Cecilia and her family who were renting a room. I met with them and rented a room for $450 a month until March 8^th. I was fighting for my daughter, but no one seemed to care. Yeah, my attorney said he filed an emergency order to return Lilly to her mother on December 13^th, 2022, and we requested for a temporary visit for Christmas anytime between December 11^th and the 25^th, but Nao refused to let me see or speak to her. December 29^th, I met with Professor Odagiri along with my attorney, Mr. Haraguchi. I found out at this investigative hearing that Odagiri had met with Nao and Lilly at Nao’s attorney’s office. While I was crying and begging to see my daughter, I could sense that this was not going well. Even though the professor said that Lilly begged to go home to the US, and asked if she would take her to her Mommy, Odagiri would twist it and make it sound like I was the one programming that into her head. Nao had told Odagiri that I had mental issues and could not be trusted. He said he was scared I would take her again even though I didn’t have either of Lilly’s passports. Odagiri said March may be the earliest I could see my daughter. I told her everything, the abuse, the parental alienation, the hiding of our passports, but when I read the report on January 10^th, I realized they would never believe me, only one of their own, the pathological liar.

In January of 2023, I was waiting for a court date, doing everything I could to convince my own attorney to try anything to get me a visit with my daughter. I asked him to also look into the marriage, as I once again questioned if we were even married to begin with. (He never did.) My visa was about to expire, as Nao took me off the family registry in Japan, the same one he put me on after tricking me into signing a marriage certificate. I could only stay for three months so I flew back home on February 8^th and booked the cheapest flight back on March 7^th. I was working on my case and still waiting to see if Mr. Haraguchi’s emergency retrieval would ever get heard and a date to see my daughter. Every email I would get back from Mr. Haraguchi would end the same way, “I’m starving”, asking for me to pay more money! I arrived back in Japan on March 8^th and arrived at Cecilia’s house where she told me I couldn’t stay there anymore. I went on Craig’s List in Japan and found a man from the UK who was going through a similar situation who had a room to rent for $450 a month.

On March 13^th, 2023, I went to the Yokohama Family Court for mediation for divorce and visitation. We never discussed divorce, nor division of assets. I asked to go to the house and get my things, Nao told my attorney he threw it all away. I asked my attorney if we could still go, because I didn’t believe Nao. Mr. Haraguchi would just assume Nao was telling the truth, it was so bizarre. For the longest time and still to this day, I question whether my lawyer was working for me or for Nao? On April 6^th, I went to the first court date with the Yokohama Family court where they assigned a Family Court Investigator. On April 15^th, we had a visitation hearing. Every time I brought something up, Nao’s attorney would write a response to the investigators and the courts. They would counter what I was saying, and call it all lies and then make up obvious lies against me! It was outrageous! I spent so many hours trying to prove what he was claiming were straight up lies! He even made claims that my US attorney was telling Lilly to say things like “I don’t want to go with him, he’s a stranger, I want to stay with Mommy!” My attorney wrote a full page letter stating he never said that, but didn’t mention me one time. Why does everyone believe Nao? He is obviously a pathological liar! On April 20^th, I had a meeting with Mr. Haraguchi for my case and visitation. He told me I needed to find a rich Japanese man to marry. What? He even made a pass at me! What could I do? I put so much money into him already and had no idea where to go to find a different lawyer. He told me I would get an interview with the two family court investigators and then with Lilly alone to observe us together. I prayed it would come soon.

I waited, waited, and could not wait much longer to see my Lillybug. I had been with her every day since she was born until the monster took her from me just over five months ago. I was told that Nao completed his interview with the family court investigators, and that Lilly was there with Nao, his new girlfriend Mayo, Nao’s attorney, and the two investigators. The report stated that Nao’s girlfriend said Lilly needs to be with her mother and she cries every night for her, that she doesn’t even know if she will stay with Nao or marry him, and that Lilly asks when she can go home to her Mommy. On May 17^th, we had a 1pm hearing and mediation for visitation in the Yokohama Family Court. On May 22^nd, from 2:30-6pm, I got my interview with two family court investigators, Nao’s lawyer, and Mr. Haraguchi. Lilly wasn’t there as promised. I was devastated. I reluctantly flew back home to Missouri on May 31^st, 2023.

June 19^th I had to prepare documents that were due for the Family Court Investigation for the hearing in July. I feared for my life, and knew I didn’t have any rights in Japan. A final ‘Investigation Report’ came out on June 30^th. It was full of errors on dates and timelines, and full of lies by Nao that the investigators believed enough to put into their report. They never interviewed Lilly alone, nor with me. It was getting closer to the end of a sick joke, but it wasn’t a joke. There was a visitation hearing on July 3^rd, the only thing that came out of that was over a hundred questions Nao and his attorney made up that we had to respond to by July 4^th! I did everything I could. July 11^th was the last court date for the case to decide who would be the primary caretaker for Lilly. Mr. Haraguchi was shocked when I told him I couldn’t return for the hearing. It didn’t matter. On August 21, 2023, the Yokohama Family Court awarded full custody of Lilly to the monster, Nao Tsuruta. Nao and his attorney continued the fight making more claims and Nao saying he would only consider a phone visitation after three years if I were to admit that everything I did was wrong.

In January of 2024, I borrowed money to hire a bankruptcy attorney. I had to figure out how to fight back, and a clean slate was all I could come up with at the time. After filing for bankruptcy, Mr. Haraguchi was notified and told me he could not represent me anymore because of the notification. He sent me the last ruling from the court that he translated to saying I had no rights to visitation and no rights to my daughter, period. I put in the judgement from my Hague trial where the judge not only sent my daughter back to the country we escaped from, but also travel and attorney expenses for Nao in the sum of $37,000. Nao hired an attorney in Saint Louis to contest it. Fortunately, my bankruptcy attorney was better than my Hague attorney, and he put the pressure on the judge to have Nao show up in person. He never showed and that was allowed to stay in the bankruptcy and be forgiven.

In the meantime, I spoke with over 20 different attorneys discussing different strategies to bring my baby home. We looked into multiple avenues. I spoke with the FBI, the CIA, Interpol, the State Department. Most of them sent me in a different direction to one of the same departments I had already spoken to before. I hired a new attorney in October of 2024 with the hopes of overturning the judgement from 2022. I began writing this story in December of 2024, and it opened up so many horrifying events that occurred during my relationship with Nao. I hid so much of the trauma in my own head, but it all came out once I got the courage to write this. In January of 2025, I filed the application for visitation under the Hague and still have yet to hear back. In March, I hired a Japanese/American couple to retrieve all my marriage documents and applications in Japan to prove the marriage was a fraud. I quickly found out that Nao had “divorced me” in June of 2024 stating it was “mutually accepted”, even though I was never informed, just like the marriage. I spoke to some Japanese attorneys who said I could challenge the divorce, but not the marriage since I didn’t make the claim in the previous trial. Once again, I asked my attorney in Japan to look into the marriage and he never did.

In May of 2025, I hired a hand writing expert to review all the marriage and divorce documents and applications. Her report confirmed the signatures were not authentic. The last piece my new attorney needed was an expert in Japanese Law to confirm if we were never married, all the parental rights to Lilly would have gone to me, the mother. After searching for weeks, we finally found an American scholar living in Japan who referred us to a Japanese attorney who was one of his students. She signed an affidavit saying just that. My new lawyer filed the motion for relief from judgement under Rule 60(b)(6) on August 19^th, citing the fraud and new evidence.  Things appeared to finally be turning in my favor when the judge signed the motion and scheduled a conference with the attorneys for October 21^st, but then on October 14^th, the judge canceled the conference and denied the motion even though Nao nor his attorney even entered a motion to dismiss. She said too much time had passed and I should have done this within a year of the original judgement. Does she not realize all that I went through to find this information and how hard it is to function without seeing or hearing from your daughter?

We immediately filed a new motion under rule 59(e) to amend the opinion of her dismissal. My attorney added more case law as well as countless details showing the fraud, perjury and abuse. It was filed on November 7^th, 2025. We patiently waited to hear back, but nothing came. I spoke with Congressman Bob Onder for over two hours about my case. He was in shock at how the judge ruled in Nao’s favor to begin with. He is working on revising current legislation, I hope “Lilly’s Law” helps her and many others in the future. After waiting for over two months, Friday January 9^th, we were notified that the judge denied our 59(e) motion as well as my attorney’s request for oral argument with no opinion given.

We are filed a Notice of Appeal to the Court of Appeals. We hired appellant attorney Michael Gross who is helping us look into other avenues as well. He mentioned hiring another attorney to possibly go after Nao with a Civil Rico lawsuit. We are in the process of looking into that as well as hiring another Japanese attorney to continue our fight there.

I haven’t seen nor spoke with my daughter for over 40 months! But I’m not giving up. I’ve been told to keep this quiet, that it may hurt my case if I went public. But now they have left me no choice and I will do whatever it takes to get my daughter home! I’m learning more and more every day, and I will make this international headlines if I have to. The corruption I have seen is through the roof. Nao told the Family Court he would consider a phone visitation within three years if I admitted that I was the one in the wrong for everything! The xenophobia I witnessed first hand from the Japanese government and family court system would make everyone question whether Japan was even a first world country. It’s barbaric, and it happens all the time. There are over 3 million cases just like this one, where a Japanese citizen kidnaps their own child from the other parent who isn’t from Japan which is known as Child Abduction Custody. Japan is known as the “Black hole of kidnapping”, where they extort families in the hopes of retrieving their kidnapped children. There is a Kizuna Group that helps left behind parents reunite with their children led by John Gomez who hasn’t seen his own daughter for over 20 years. I’m not going to stop fighting for my daughter. I am fighting this from many different angles.

I haven’t seen a dime from the company I built since 2019. Turns out, Nao set me up to be the fall person for the US company. I was listed as 100% owner according to my former CPA, but come to find out, my tax transcripts don’t even come close to what I was making, and neither did Shinso’s. After contacting the attorney who set up Shinso Skin Care, LLC, we found out that Nao changed the ownership to 100% Shinso Skin Care, Japan. It was a shell company. I’m sure Shinso in London, Moscow and other locations are set up the same way. He evades taxes, and once he thinks people are on to him, he closes up those locations and moves on to the next.

Nao forged my name to add himself and our CPA to my individual accounts and liquidate them. I had set up an account in Lilly’s name, that’s gone missing as well. He has committed tax evasion, fraud, and identity theft. I don’t know who to speak with, but if anyone can help, please reach out.

He tricked me into signing a marriage certificate, or so I thought, and then divorced me without my knowledge. After doing some research into what it takes to get married in Japan, there’s five steps, and I may have took one of them. That’s right, he forged the rest of the documents! The only thing I may have signed would have been an application to request to get married, which was in Japanese! I know our “marriage” was a complete fraud. I don’t know anything about Japanese divorces, especially with regards to fraudulent ones, but there are a lot of assets available and if I have any rights to them, I beg someone to help. All my things are in Japan, including all of his assets that could be marital assets, including the company. The company that Kiehl’s offered 12 million dollars for to which Nao declined without my input. Nao could have taken care of his debts to his ex wife and got his rights to the son he abandoned, but he chose not to. That just shows what type of monster I have been dealing with!

These last three years have been worse than anything before, including being a prisoner in a foreign country with a huge language barrier. I often find myself wishing I could just go back to being a prisoner, back to the abuse and parental alienation just so I could be with my daughter and try to protect her when I could. I found myself defending him at times, saying people didn’t know how great things were in the beginning, but when I sat down to write this, I noticed I blocked out so many things. It is hard to remember the good times in the beginning. It’s mindboggling how many times I went back to him. Almost as if he had some sort of mind control over me.

I have seen many specialists over the last year to handle the trauma and stress. I have had to get advanced acupuncture to help cool my body. I am seeing a kidney specialist. I continue to get more tests to help. I’ve been seeing therapists, and none of them can believe what happened. The chronic PTSD is so bad, I hear Lilly crying for me in my dreams, when I wake up, and all throughout the day. I pray Lilly is doing alright, but I’m sure she is having similar traumas and pains. I’ve had many suicidal thoughts, but refuse to take the medication as I know that will cloud my judgement. I know I cannot go down that path, the easy one, because my daughter needs to be rescued. I cannot let Nao win.

            I had to file for bankruptcy, and plan to start over with a new skincare company at some point, but my daughter is the most important thing. I am creating a website, savelilly.org , and I will be starting a gofundme. I’m estimating it will take between $100,000 to $250,000 in legal fees to get this overturned, especially if I have to go back to Japan. I believe my attorney can reopen my daughter’s case and get the judgement set aside. I have political contacts ready to help if we can get a judgement stating I have the rights to my daughter. I also think I found another attorney who may be able to go after Nao for what he did regarding the business and setting me up to be the fall person. If anyone else can help, I will make everything transparent as to where the money goes towards and will update the progress in any way I can. I have aspirations to help change this treaty to where Americans and other countries can get a more fair trial between countries such as Japan. I would like to call it Lilly’s Law. If there is an excess of money, I plan on starting a foundation that will help other parents who are in horrible situations like mine. I really hope the leaders in Japan realize how terrible their family law system has become. I hope the leaders in the United States helps their citizen children and the parents of the children, and rescues them from these awful places. I pray there is someone who can help us. I have conviction in my heart and I’m not going to stop until my daughter is saved and justice is served. Thank you for taking the time to read my story, and please send any prayers you can towards my daughter, Lilly. If you can help in any other way to save Lilly, it would be greatly appreciated.