Japanese mother of boy born by surrogacy calls it 'dream come true'

Thursday 26th November, 06:19 AM JST

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Apsara at 09:13 AM JST - 26th November

Is that 16months or 16 years?

People can get tumours just as easily at 16 months old at 16 years, and the effect (infertility) would have been the same regardless of what age she was at the time, so why are you finding this surprising?
kokorocloud at 09:26 AM JST - 26th November

Her mother gave birth to the baby for her? That's dedication. A little strange to be pregnant with your grandchild, but she obviously loves her daughter a great deal to do this for her.

franz75-- You have a point, as there are many children who need parents, and having someone else give birth FOR you seems strange. But I don't think it's that selfish to want a child from your own flesh and blood (so to speak).
Orchid64 at 09:58 AM JST - 26th November

While I agree that it would be nice if the people who wanted children adopted unwanted children, this simply isn't going to be accepted in Japanese culture where blood is the most important thing. People want flesh of their flesh and have no use for children which are not of their own DNA. This is a very strong element in Japanese culture and is unlikely to change for an extremely long time. It relates strongly to a variety of aspects of the culture, including the reason they resist immigration.

The larger issue is why doesn't the government encourage surrogacy considering the low birthrate in Japan. It works from a biological viewpoint since the genetic outcome for a child born from surrogacy is the same as one conceived in the normal manner. The main thing holding them back is their antiquated notions about family and use of family registries. They simply are unwilling to make a bureaucratic change that would make surrogacy easier for everyone.
timorborder at 10:19 AM JST - 26th November

So when will this cabal of criminals be locked up for wantonly breaking Japan's laws?
gogogo at 11:07 AM JST - 26th November

It is a matter of law, the entire system of technically who is a mother and a father in Japan is so 1950's
cracaphat at 11:22 AM JST - 26th November

I applaud the mother and daughter for showing their faces in public,which is very brave in Japan.Despite the negative fallout that they would receive in doing so.To each his or her own I believe.
dracpoo2 at 12:42 PM JST - 26th November

I swear this country is against any thing whatsoever that will mean happiness and contentment to its people. Why arent they this vocal about mothers/parents who kill their kids? They should be advocating for mandatory life sentences/death penalties for such, instead of trying to prevent women who want the kids from having them.
thepro at 12:54 PM JST - 26th November

Japan sez: babies - bad, robots - good.
dammit at 01:02 PM JST - 26th November

Orchid, the government can't encourage surrogacy as you suggest. It's a minefield of problems for all involved, and encouraging it means getting involved to help sort things out when it all goes pear-shaped. If the birth mother decides she can't bear to part with the child, which isn't uncommon, then there's little anyone can do. This is why it's illegal in many countries to pay a surrogate mother for more than the actual expenses incurred by the pregnancy. You can imagine that some people would be willing to be a surrogate mother for lots of cash and gifts, but might lack the maturity and selflessness required to hand over the baby at the end. Like I said, it's a minefield in many many ways. This lucky couple had the ideal surrogate mother to hand, who was unlikely to want to hurt her own daughter and also knew all along that she'd be able to have lots of contact with the new baby for as long as they both live. Good luck to all of them, I hope they're very happy.

What I don't understand is how in Japan you can't register a baby born to a foreign surrogate mother as Japanese. This has been an issue in the past with people, I know as I've read it on here, but as the father is Japanese and most definitely recognises the child as his before and after birth, surely that's all the requirements for Japanese nationality met? So why the problems? If a Japanese man has a child with his foreign mistress it can still be registered as a Japanese national, so why not with a surrogate mother?
Melorina at 01:08 PM JST - 26th November

I'm happy for the mother who has got a baby even thought he was born from his mother's mother. It sounds a bit strange that grandchild was born from his grandma. Since in Japan, its government is facing to the low birthrate and trying to rise up the rate, I think that host surrogacy shouldn't be a problem. It gives many opportunities for women who want but can't get a child by any mental reasons or others. But unfortunately, Japan, known as its economic power, has a too conservative system or thoughts on host surrogacy. They prevent these women from having a child. It really doesn't make any sense to me. On the one side, they want the birthrate to be higher, but once women try to have a baby by host surrogacy, they kind of refuse...?! Much technology has been improved, and (its own nation's) people, system, society is changing by ages and ages. So the government should be able to see what the people really want or need for its nation and be able to adjust to those.
hikaru8japan at 02:48 PM JST - 26th November

This host surrogacy issue is so complicated that many people still disagree with this concept. Some point out that this is ethically wrong because by nature those who can't give birth for some physical reasons or something had had no way to do that until this innovative host surrogacy medical improvement was made and doing so might distort the ecosystem. But now it is possible for them to have SOMEBODY give birth as a surrogate mother. Besides, there is a case in which a surrogate mother died while in pregnancy. This is terrible for her and those who asked her for surrogate birth. Who will likely be to blame for it? A lot of problems related to surrogate birth such as refusal of a surrogate mother to give an original mother(right term?) the baby born to her. However, this couple's challenge is interesting. She had her mother give birth to their baby using her fertile egg. It seems to have no problems like I said above. But yet a grandchildren born to its grandmother seems a little bit strange to me...
numbskull at 04:36 PM JST - 26th November

Adopting a child is an act of extreme generosity. Not adopting is NORMAL, and far from selfish. Other people's kids don't share your DNA. Therefore, its harder to give them sound advice because some personality traits are dictated by DNA. Imagine an introverted bookworm of a kid adopted by extraverted athletic people. That kid's role models are not going to match his/her skill set. They will drive the kid batty.

Franz- It was the grandmother's idea, not the mothers. I am sure she considered possibilities like this ever since the daughter suffered the injury as a child that made this necessary. I nominate her for grandma of the year! Saw her on TV. Seems like a gem of a lady and she sure does not look 53 either!
Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land at 08:24 PM JST - 26th November

Sure, there are potential problems with surrogate motherhood, but it seems to me that these problems could be managed/minimized if there was the will to do so.

The Science Council of Japan has effectively banned the practice of host surrogacy

Just another old boy's club that isn't really concerned about the issue, because it affects only women. According to their web site, the council has 210 members and scanning their member list I'm gussing about 40 are women.
dolphingirl at 11:12 PM JST - 26th November

Stranger in a Strange Land: Well said.

What boggles my mind is the statement 'efforts are underway to register him as an adopted child fo his biological parents'. So, even though the fertile egg was a product of the 27-year-old mother, the boy is technically the birth mother's child? Weird, I think. And scientifically, a very backwards way of looking at things.
shufu at 11:56 PM JST - 26th November

wow ... gross gross gross gross gross ...

i really wish people wouldnt be allowed do to these things, or at least, they would not be allowed to tell us about them, it makes me feel mildly repulsed, especially for this kid...

imagine the conversation in a few years "Sooo you have grown up with me as your mom, and biologically im your mom, but actually legally im your sister?" like whaaaaaaaat?

i really despise IVF ...