No. 22-3014 ___________________________

Naoteru Tsuruta

Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

Sarah Margaret Tsuruta

Defendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis ____________

Submitted: April 12, 2023 Filed: August 10, 2023 ____________ Before SMITH, Chief Judge, MELLOY and ERICKSON, Circuit Judges. ____________ MELLOY, Circuit Judge.

In October 2021, Sarah Tsuruta (“Sarah”) flew from Japan to Missouri with her and Naoteru Tsuruta’s (“Naoteru”) child, L.T. In March 2022, Naoteru filed a petition for the return of their child under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (“Hague Convention”) to have L.T. returned to Japan. The district court 1 found L.T. was “at home” in Japan before Sarah removed the child to the United States. The district court granted Naoteru’s petition to have L.T. returned to Japan. Sarah appeals and we affirm.

I.

In 2015, Sarah gave birth to L.T. in Miami, Florida. At the time, Naoteru was living in the U.K. Ten months after L.T. was born, Sarah and L.T. moved to the U.K. to live with Naoteru. In 2018, Naoteru and Sarah married, and the family moved from the U.K. to Japan. While in Japan, L.T. attended school/daycare, learned to speak Japanese and English, engaged in extracurricular activities, traveled, and spent time with extended family. In November 2019, Sarah and L.T. traveled from Japan to Missouri to visit Sarah’s family. In February 2020, Sarah and L.T. voluntarily returned to Japan.

Sarah became unhappy with the living situation in Japan and repeatedly told Naoteru she wanted to leave Japan and get a divorce. After continued arguments between Naoteru and Sarah, Naoteru attempted to conceal L.T.’s Japanese passport and expired U.S. passport. On October 15, 2021, Sarah found the concealed passports in Naoteru’s work storage facility and went to the U.S. Embassy in Japan. At the Embassy, Sarah reported she feared for her life and her child’s safety. The Embassy issued an emergency passport, and the two went directly to the airport and flew back to the United States. Sarah and L.T. had return flights booked for March 15, 2022.

In November 2021, Sarah filed a petition for divorce in Missouri. After learning of the divorce filings in March 2022, Naoteru filed the present petition to have L.T. returned to Japan under the Hague Convention.

1 The Honorable Shirley Padmore Mensah, United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri, to whom the case was referred for final disposition by consent of the parties pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). -2- II.

The Hague Convention was adopted to address international child abduction by family members. Barzilay v. Barzilay, 600 F.3d 912, 916 (8th Cir. 2010). The Hague Convention does not govern custody battles, instead the Hague Convention determines the proper forum for custody battles. Id. at 916–17. Under the Hague Convention, “a child wrongfully removed from her country of ‘habitual residence’ ordinarily must be returned to that country[]” where custody will be determined. Monasky v. Taglieri, 140 S. Ct. 719, 723 (2020). Naoteru must show three things to establish a prima facie case for return under the Hague Convention. First, he must show Japan was L.T.’s habitual residence prior to removal in October 2021. Second