In Japan, research on issues of donor conception has been accumulating for several decades, and the need for legislation concerning donor conception is now recognized. Since the early 2000s, donor-conceived individuals have begun to speak out for the right to know their biological origin, and the general public has come to understand the importance of this right. However, until recently, no relevant law or legal regulation existed in Japan. This chapter (1) introduces the historical and cultural background of sperm donor anonymity in Japan; (2) reviews the positions of various government committees since the late 1990s; (3) provides an overview of how donor offspring, parents, and intended parents of donor-conceived children have dealt with the issues; and (4) discusses the reasons for the slow pace of legislation and the Japanese government’s failure to recognize the right of donor offspring to obtain donor information.

Information on genetic relations, gamete donors and donor-related siblings, can now be located within two very different systems: ‘official’ regulatory systems; and emerging digital online systems, including direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTCGT), ancestry sites and internet groups. The possibilities of finding genetic relatives through these online systems has risen dramatically in recent years, leading to claims that donor anonymity is dead regardless of which jurisdiction you live in. In this chapter, we explore how online systems have impacted on donor conception. We use UK examples to explore the social-cultural contexts, including the activism of donor-conceived people, which have shaped, and continue to shape, both systems. We consider the ethical, legal and social-emotional challenges for donor-conceived people in these new landscapes, especially in relation to their agency, as these different systems collide and interact, creating new spaces of sociality and challenges to existing power structures.