1. The Recent Japanese Situation on Parenthood
-Adherence to the Tradition
or the World Standard-
The 16th World Conference of the International Society of Family Law,
‘Family Law and Family Realities’
27 July 2017
Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam
HIROKO ITO NAGOYA UNIVERSITY

2. Introduction Aim of this Presentation No ART LAW in JAPAN.
Adherence to the Traditional Family.
AID and Surrogacy

3. ART in JAPAN
Civil Code ‘child born in wedlock’ Wife’s delivery is required 　　　　　　　　　 Not Amended Yet
Ministry of Health(Report in 2000), Ministry of Justice (Draft in 2003), Science Council (Report in 2008)
IVF -couple’s embryo, delivered by the wife
AD -delivered by the wife (husband’s consent)
Surrogacy not allowed

4. Civil Code, Book 4,Chapter III
(Presumption of Child in Wedlock)
Article 772
(1)　A child conceived by a wife during marriage shall be presumed to be a child of her husband
(2)　A child born after 200 days from the formation of marriage or within 300 days of the day of the dissolution or rescission of marriage shall be presumed to have been conceived during marriage

5. Legality of a child who was
born by AIH but without the husband’s consent Nara Case 2017
Married in A foreign husband
First AIH child (2011). Separated since 2013, Second AIH child (2015), divorced in 2016.
Applicable Law on the child’s status (child born in/out of wedlock. Art 28 and Art 29)

6. Japanese Private International Law
Article 28 (1) If a child shall be treated as a child born in wedlock under the national law of either the husband or wife at the time of the child's birth, the child shall be deemed to be a child born in wedlock.
Article 38 (1) Where a party concerned has two or more nationalities……. if one of those nationalities is Japanese, Japanese law shall be the party's national law.

7. Article 29
(1) In the case of a child born out of wedlock, the formation of a parent-child relationship with regard to the father and the child shall be governed by the father's national law at the time of the child's birth.…

8. Case Laws
Supreme Court denied (2006) the status of a child born in wedlock, to a child who was born by IVF after death of the father
Supreme Court affirmed (2013) the status of a child born in wedlock, to a child who was born by IVF (AID), for a GID father and a mother
Supreme Court denied (2014) to claim of non existence of paternity based upon a DNA test
Supreme Court(2005 and 2007) denied the status of a child born in wedlock to children born in the USA by surrogacy

9. Cases -ART in Abroad-
Baby Manji (2008) A Japanese couple divorced before the birth of a surrogate child in India
A Japanese wealthy man had 16+ surrogate babies in Thailand(2014)

10. Recent Movement to Reform the Constitution
Draft of LDP (2012) to add ‘family as a natural and basic unit of the society’ and mutual assistance of family members, and modify the relevant articles of the Civil Code.
Article 24.　Marriage shall be based only on the mutual consent of both sexes and it shall be maintained through mutual cooperation with the equal rights of husband and wife as a basis.

11. CONCLUSION