Japan · Nation Thailand
Japan’s long kidney waits fuel overseas demand amid Cambodia brokerage case
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Long waits for donated kidneys in Japan are pushing some patients to seek transplants abroad, with a Tokyo man’s operation in Cambodia now at the centre of an alleged illegal brokerage case.
Key facts
- The man, in his 70s, had lived with kidney disease for more than a decade and could not obtain a kidney from a relative
- Nevertheless, a government survey in 2025 found that only about 20% had clearly expressed their position on organ donation.
- That annual total is equivalent to roughly 4% of the subsequent waiting-list figure, illustrating the disparity in scale rather than an individual patient’s annual chance of receiving an organ.
- In 2023, Indonesian police arrested middlemen and others accused of sending more than 100 Indonesians to Cambodia to sell their kidneys.
- The hospital had also been the subject of a separate organ-trafficking investigation reported in 2014 .
- Cambodia enacted legislation in 2016 prohibiting commercial organ transplants, with violations punishable by up to 20 years in prison
Summary
The man, in his 70s, had lived with kidney disease for more than a decade and could not obtain a kidney from a relative. He contacted a consultation centre advertising transplant services, travelled to Cambodia and paid a local coordinator US$157,500, approximately 5 million baht, for the procedure, according to Nikkei Asia .
Japanese authorities believe Hiromichi Kikuchi, 66, who effectively ran the centre, received more than 9 million yen, approximately 2 million baht, from the patient and used some of it to repay personal debts. He has been indicted on charges of violating Japan’s organ transplant law.