Commoditizing Christianity with Women’s Bodies: From an Analysis of Japanese Discourse of Western Surrogate Mothers
Yoshie
Last Name Yanagihara
Terminal Degree(s) Ph.D
Title/Position Assistant Professor
Institution/Organization Tokyo Denki University
In the Japanese surrogacy market there is a belief that a western woman becomes a surrogate mother to fulfill their spiritual need of Christianity. Under this recognition, as long as a surrogate mother is Christian the Japanese culture regards there is minimized potential for ethical issues. Hence, utilizing U.S. and European surrogate mothers provokes less criticism, while the same decision to utilize women from South Asia and South East Asian countries is highly criticized. To articulate this cultural understanding, this paper examines Japanese mass media representations. First, I introduce the current situation about the Japanese surrogacy market. Second, I trace the transition of Japanese recognition of U.S. surrogate mothers from the 1990's into the 2000's. Finally, I analyze the latest Japanese recognition of surrogate mothers’motives from cases which utilized East European women.
Although Japan has no law regulating or banning surrogacy, the government allows babies originating through international surrogacy to be registered as a client’s child by using a plenary adoption system. Under this circumstance, Japanese people continue utilization of cross-border surrogacy. The most luxurious cross-border surrogacy destination has been the U.S., while the more reasonable major destination had been South/South East Asian countries, until the door was closed to foreign clients during the 2010's. Accordingly, for Japanese clients the major venue for reasonable cross-border surrogacy has moved to former Soviet Union countries, such as Russia, Georgia, and Ukraine. This created a Japanese belief that all cross-border surrogacy markets reside in western countries, including the U.S., and therefore surrogate mothers are more likely to be Christian.
Originally, the concept of surrogacy practice was imported into Japan by the Tokyo branch of an American surrogacy agency. During the 1990's, a chair of the Tokyo branch explained that surrogate mothers undertake the practice using their altruistic mind. This notion became widely prevalent following a famous cross-border surrogacy case conducted by a Japanese TV celebrity couple during the 2000's. They used American surrogate mothers and obtained twins in 2002. They appeared on TV programs and wrote books about their U.S surrogacy experiences. In their depiction, their surrogate mothers had a strong desire to give children to infertile people, which were derived from their religious beliefs. Therefore, the Japanese TV celebrity couple construed that women who wanted to be surrogate mothers craved being one to fulfill their inner spiritual self, and in turn, the clients believe they are helping the surrogate mother’s quest for happiness.
This “Christianity logic” is applied to East European surrogate mothers as well. The Japanese construe that they chose to be a surrogate mother through their religious beliefs. Because Christianity is less recognized in Japan, the differences of denominations are not relevant. Some media discourse even explained that devout Catholic women became surrogate mothers.
These findings suggest that Christianity may be utilized to expand future surrogacy markets where people are not familiar with this religion. To avoid exploitation of their identity in the burgeoning surrogacy market, Christian theology needs make its surrogacy beliefs clear.
Although Japan has no law regulating or banning surrogacy, the government allows babies originating through international surrogacy to be registered as a client’s child by using a plenary adoption system. Under this circumstance, Japanese people continue utilization of cross-border surrogacy. The most luxurious cross-border surrogacy destination has been the U.S., while the more reasonable major destination had been South/South East Asian countries, until the door was closed to foreign clients during the 2010's. Accordingly, for Japanese clients the major venue for reasonable cross-border surrogacy has moved to former Soviet Union countries, such as Russia, Georgia, and Ukraine. This created a Japanese belief that all cross-border surrogacy markets reside in western countries, including the U.S., and therefore surrogate mothers are more likely to be Christian.
Originally, the concept of surrogacy practice was imported into Japan by the Tokyo branch of an American surrogacy agency. During the 1990's, a chair of the Tokyo branch explained that surrogate mothers undertake the practice using their altruistic mind. This notion became widely prevalent following a famous cross-border surrogacy case conducted by a Japanese TV celebrity couple during the 2000's. They used American surrogate mothers and obtained twins in 2002. They appeared on TV programs and wrote books about their U.S surrogacy experiences. In their depiction, their surrogate mothers had a strong desire to give children to infertile people, which were derived from their religious beliefs. Therefore, the Japanese TV celebrity couple construed that women who wanted to be surrogate mothers craved being one to fulfill their inner spiritual self, and in turn, the clients believe they are helping the surrogate mother’s quest for happiness.
This “Christianity logic” is applied to East European surrogate mothers as well. The Japanese construe that they chose to be a surrogate mother through their religious beliefs. Because Christianity is less recognized in Japan, the differences of denominations are not relevant. Some media discourse even explained that devout Catholic women became surrogate mothers.
These findings suggest that Christianity may be utilized to expand future surrogacy markets where people are not familiar with this religion. To avoid exploitation of their identity in the burgeoning surrogacy market, Christian theology needs make its surrogacy beliefs clear.