It has been 20 years since the government legalized organ transplants from brain-dead donors, and seven years since the law was revised to allow children to donate organs and families to approve organ donations of loved ones unilaterally.
But while the transplant rate in Japan has increased sixfold since 2010, it is still relatively low. According to a May 12 article in the Yomiuri Shimbun, only 64 took place in 2016 for all organs. The Japan Organ Transplant Network (JOTN) says that as of April there were 593 patients waiting for hearts, 321 for livers and 11,965 for kidneys.
In the United States, the organ donation rate is 26 transplants per million; in South Korea it is 8.4. In Japan, it's only 0.7. On the occasion of the anniversary of the transplant law, various media have pondered their role in spreading awareness of organ donation and while there are still cultural barriers that prevent understanding, there are other, structural difficulties that have to be overcome in order to make transplants an integral part of medical treatment in Japan.