MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A Minnesota custody battle over four children is tangled in international law.

The custody case between James Cook and his former wife, Hitomi Arimitsu, is expected to be back in a Minnesota court Friday. Cook hasn't seen his children since October of 2014 when Arimitsu took them to Japan to visit her parents. They never returned.

Cook took the case to the Osaka High Court in Japan, which ruled in his favor. That was a year ago. Cook says he has tried to bring the children back to Minnesota but Arimitsu hasn't allowed access to the two sets of twins who were 6 and 11 when Cook last saw them.

A U.S. State Department spokesman says the court system in Japan doesn't allow someone to be held in contempt of court.

 

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