日本富商在泰国赢得13个孩子的监护权

Japanese Man Wins Legal Right to 13 Children Born in Thailand

A Japanese businessman who won a child custody¹ case in Thailand is largely² unknown in his home country.

Mitsutoki Shigeta is the son of the owner of Japanese telecommunications and insurance company Hikari Tsushin. As a major shareholder³ of the company, he earns millions of dollars a year. But in Japan, he generally stays away from publicity⁴.

On Tuesday, a Thai court gave Shigeta legal custody of his 13 children who were born to women in Thailand. Many news media aggressively reported on the babies after they were found in a Bangkok apartment building in 2014. But the reporting stopped after his father’s company reportedly threatened legal action against the media.

Japanese newspapers no longer use Mitsutoki Shigeta’s name in their stories. He is simply described as a 28-year-old man.

Information from the Thai court, doctors and a fertility⁵ center has done little to answer questions about Shigeta and the children.

A Japanese lawyer who was said to represent the man refused to talk with the Associated Press about him. Officials at Hikari Tsushin were not available for comment.

The company started as a business telephone and office supplies company. It now is on the Tokyo Stock⁶ Exchange and controls more than 180 smaller companies.

Japanese newspapers reported in 2014 that Shigeta said he wanted to have 100 to 1,000 children. He added that if he were successful, it would cost millions of dollars. He wanted to buy equipment to freeze his "high-quality" sperm⁷ at home, so that he could continue producing children even in his old age, reports claimed.

Thai officials have rejected human trafficking and other criminal charges against him.

Mariam Kukunashvili founded the New Light fertility clinic in Thailand. She sought out some of the women who became pregnant⁸.

Kukunashvili told the AP in 2014 that Shigeta told her "he wanted 10 to 15 babies a year and that he wanted to continue the baby-making process until he's dead." She said he also told her that he wanted to compete in an election⁹ and win by using his big family for voting.

Shigeta's actions, along with some others, caused Thailand to ban commercial surrogacy for non-Thais. That law sent people seeking surrogate mothers to Cambodia, which also later banned it.

Japanese newspapers reported that Shigeta's parents were seen kissing a baby when they visited their son in Cambodia, where he also had several children by surrogate mothers.

The Thai court said Tuesday that Shigeta plans to send the children to an international school. It also said he is preparing a house for them in Tokyo where they will be cared for by nurses and babysitters. His lawyer in Thailand said he simply wants a big family.

I'm Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

custody – n. the legal right to take care of a child

surrogate – n. a person or thing that takes the place or performs the duties of someone or something else

insurance – n. an agreement in which a person makes payments¹⁰ to a company and the company promises to pay money if the person is injured or dies

shareholder – n. someone who owns shares of stock in a company or business

fetus¹¹ – n. a human being in the final weeks of development, before it is born

sperm - n. male reproductive fluid¹²

commercial – adj. related¹³ to the buying and selling of goods and services

arrange – v. to plan or to organize

surrogate – n. a person or thing that takes the place or performs the duties of someone or something else

nurse - n. a person who is trained to care for sick or injured people and who usually works in a hospital or doctor's office

1 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

2 largely   

adv.大部分，主要地

参考例句：

• It is largely dependent on the weather.这多半取决于天气情况。
• Their conclusions were largely founded on guesswork.他们的结论大部份基于猜测。

3 shareholder   

n.股东，股票持有人

参考例句：

• The account department have prepare a financial statement for the shareholder.财务部为股东准备了一份财务报表。
• A shareholder may transfer his shares in accordance with the law.股东持有的股份可以依法转让。

4 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

5 fertility   

n.肥沃；繁殖力

参考例句：

• A green manure is a crop grown mainly to improve soil fertility.种植绿肥作物主要是为使土壤更加肥沃。
• She is taking drugs to increase her fertility.她为了增强她的生殖能力而在服药。

6 stock   

n.存货，储备；树干；血统；股份；家畜；adj.存货的；平凡的，惯用的；股票的；畜牧的；vt.进货，采购；储存；供给；vi.出新芽；进货

参考例句：

• The shop takes stock every week on Friday mornings.这家商店每星期五早晨盘点存货。
• Experts have forecast an upturn in the stock market.专家已预测股票市场价格有上升趋势。

7 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

8 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

9 election   

n.选举，选择权；当选

参考例句：

• There is no doubt but that he will win the election.毫无疑问，他将在竞选中获胜。
• The government will probably fall at the coming election.在即将到来的大选中，该政府很可能要垮台。

10 payments   

n.支付，付款，缴纳，报酬( payment的名词复数 )；付出的[要付出的]款项；报答，报偿

参考例句：

• Welfare payments cease as soon as an individual starts a job. 一旦就业，即停发福利救济。
• The law can compel fathers to make regular payments for their children. 这项法律可强制父亲定期支付子女的费用。

11 fetus   

n.胎，胎儿

参考例句：

• In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
• No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。

12 fluid   

n.流体，液体；adj.流体的，流动的

参考例句：

• Fluid includes both gasses and liquids.流体包括气体和液体。
• The weather is fluid in summer.夏天天气多变。

13 related   

adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的

参考例句：

• I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。