40% of Japanese positive about donating their organs

November 12, 2017

TOKYO- A government survey showed Saturday that 40 percent of Japanese people are positive about donating their organs if they are pronounced brain-dead or dead of cardiac arrest.

Meanwhile, the proportion of those who show whether or not they are willing to donate organs on the driver's license or in other forms stood low, at a little more than 10 percent, according to the survey by the Cabinet Office. The figures were almost unchanged from the previous survey in 2013.

"It's important to make more people know how to indicate their intentions regarding organ donations," said an official of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. "We also want people to have opportunities to talk about the matter with family members," the official added.

The survey was conducted between Aug. 24 and Sept. 3 on 3,000 people aged 18 and over. Of them, 1,911 gave valid answers.

Of the respondents, 19.7 percent said they are willing to donate their organs, and 22.1 percent said they are somewhat willing to do so. The combined rate among respondents aged 18-29 came to about 70 percent.

Meanwhile, only 12.7 percent were found to be indicating whether they hope to donate organs.

On reasons for not showing their intentions, with multiple answers allowed, the proportion of respondents who said that they "cannot make a decision" or "planned to write later" was the largest, followed by those who have "a sense of hesitation" to organ donations, those who are "not interested," those who "do not know well" about how to show their intentions and those who "want to leave the decision up to family members," according to the survey.

As to the donation of family members' organs, nearly 90 percent of respondents said they will respect the wills the relatives showed before their deaths about whether or not they were willing to donate their organs.

In case no such wills are shown, nearly 40 percent of respondents said they would agree to donate organs of their family members while the proportion of those who stated that they would say no came to about 50 percent. Both figures were almost unchanged from the 2013 survey. Jiji Press