National / Social Issues Sep 12, 2017

IVF accounts for 5% of babies born in Japan in 2015: survey

A record 1 in 20 newborn babies was born through in vitro fertilization treatment in Japan in 2015, a recent tally shows.

National / Science & Health Aug 18, 2017

Fertile offspring produced from sterile mice using iPS cells

A team of Japanese and British scientists has succeeded in producing fertile offspring from sterile mice made with a chromosomal abnormality by using induced pluripotent stem cells, better known as iPS cells, Kyoto University said Friday. The researchers, including professor Michinori Saito of Kyoto University, ...

National / Science & Health | A MATTER OF HEALTH May 24, 2017

Experts say Japan should examine male infertility amid falling birthrate

by Tomoko Otake

In mid-December, when news emerged that the number of newborn babies in Japan in 2016 would likely fall below 1 million for the first time since the government started collecting data in 1899, it sparked a renewed debate on how to reverse the downtrend ...

National / Media | MEDIA MIX May 6, 2017

Japanese tradition denies surrogacy

by Philip Brasor

Most major media covered the March 22 Tokyo news conference where Sachiko Kishimoto of the nonprofit organization Oocyte Donation Network (OD-Net) explained how a woman in her 40s had recently given birth to a daughter who had been conceived using the woman's husband's sperm ...

National / Social Issues Mar 28, 2017

Japanese men breaking silence on infertility woes

Japanese husbands who have kept silent about the embarrassment of undergoing infertility treatment are swallowing their pride and beginning to speak out. More of them are attending meet-and-greet support groups for men with similar problems, and even a recently published book compiling the various experiences ...

National / Science & Health | FOCUS Mar 26, 2017

Japan seen lagging in creating egg donation system for infertile women

Recent news about a woman with ovarian problems successfully giving a birth via an egg from an anonymous donor may offer hope to those facing difficulty getting pregnant because of advanced age. But a child born through this process technically has two mothers — a ...

National / Science & Health Mar 24, 2017

Kyoto University professor does the math and finds that sperm swim to a beat

by Tomoko Otake

We know that the upshot of sex between a man and a woman is more than 50 million sperm racing to reach one egg, though exactly how sperm swim through a woman’s body and how just one survives the journey to fertilize an egg ...

National Aug 10, 2016

Japan firms ramp up efforts to help female workers trying to conceive

Around 30 female employees from Rohto Pharmaceutical Co. in Osaka are listening intently as Sakae Goto, a fertility specialist, gives a presentation at the drugmaker's first in-house seminar on the topic. "Eggs start 'aging' when (women) reach around 35," Goto, who runs a fertility care ...

Business / Corporate May 1, 2016

App to let men test sperm count at home

by Tomoko Otake

Infertility is a growing concern in rapidly depopulating Japan. But it is often seen as a women's problem, even though both sexes can be to blame. A Tokyo company is trying to change that by marketing a kit that allows men to check their semen ...