Aggregated News
Seventy-four wealthy Chinese couples struggling with infertility have had children using surrogates in Japan introduced by a broker, it has been learned.
Each couple paid 15 million yen for the process, which is being termed an "underground surrogacy business" between China -- where infertility clinics remain scarce -- and Japan, which has few surrogacy regulations.
While a private clinic in Nagano Prefecture has been known to perform surrogacy procedures between Japanese mother/daughter and sister pairs, the Chinese couples are the first confirmed cases of the procedures being carried out as a business involving a broker.
On the third floor of a multi-tenant building in the Kabuki-cho entertainment district of Tokyo Shinjuku's Ward is a room that was once a small bar, but is now home to well-used infertility equipment including a microscope and a monitor. These devices are used to transfer fertilized eggs from Chinese couples to women acting as their surrogates.
Late on the night of Feb. 11, during the Chinese New Year holiday, a 45-year-old client from Beijing came to the office with an interpreter. She was introduced...