Thirty-three-year-old Satoko Nagamura has long wanted to have a child with her same-sex partner. However, it's extremely rare for same-sex couples to raise children in Japan, and for a long time Nagamura believed that it was basically impossible.
Nagamura's views shifted after she stumbled across a blog by a domestic gay writer in the mid-2000s that recounted the steps she went through to give birth after importing sperm from the United States. The blogger's story gave Nagamura a glimmer of hope.
In 2014, Nagamura started a relationship with a woman called Mamiko Moda. Moda was willing to support Nagamura's dream, and together they began searching for a sperm donor in Japan. It's no longer possible to import sperm from overseas, Nagamura explains, adding that no domestic medical institutions accept it.