Nine women have registered with Japan's first "ovum bank" to donate their eggs to help infertile women, paving the way for fertility treatment to begin within the year at the earliest, a private group said Monday.
The Oocyte Donation Network, which offers support for women suffering from ovarian function problems such as premature menopause, has also listed three women as prospective recipients.
"(The registered donors) had strong will to help others," Sachiko Kishimoto, who heads the group, told reporters in Tokyo. "We hope for more people like them" to donate their egg.