National / Science & Health Nov 17, 2021
Several issues are set to be discussed, including how to define patients and whether to set limits on age and the number of treatments.
National / Social Issues Sep 21, 2018
Keio hospital ends fertility treatment due to shortage of sperm donors
Keio University Hospital in Tokyo has stopped taking appointments for a certain type of fertility treatment due to a fall in the number of anonymous sperm donors. According to the hospital, fewer donors were willing to participate once they were made aware of the spreading ...
National Aug 27, 2018
Premarital fertility tests and medicals gain popularity as Japanese wait longer to tie the knot
More people in Japan are undergoing premarital medical examinations as more couples struggle with infertility due to late marriages. While many people view such checkups positively, as a way to detect health problems at an early stage, some experts are concerned that reproductive capacity could ...
National / Social Issues Sep 12, 2017
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 | 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 / Social Issues Mar 28, 2017
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 ...
National Mar 13, 2016
In a first for Japan, a Chiba Prefecture hospital authorizes the freezing the eggs of four women for future pregnancies.
National Feb 3, 2016
As Japan grapples with low birthrate, FSA to allow insurance firms to cover infertility treatment
The Financial Services Agency plans to allow insurance companies to offer coverage for expensive infertility treatment in a bid to curb the declining birthrate, sources close to the matter said Tuesday. The change could be made this spring. Infertility treatment is on the rise as ...