The price per kidney was 15,000, dollars the equivalent today of about 2 million yen. The kidney transplant for the Japanese patient was conducted in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan. A Japanese nonprofit organization acted as an intermediary. A passport was forged for the Ukrainian donor to make it look like she was a relative of the patient. The patient whose condition became temporarily life-threatening after the transplant, regrets having undergone the surgery. It all adds up to another suspected case of organ trafficking.
It was from November to December last year when four Japanese people traveled to Kyrgyzstan. The one who actually underwent kidney transplant surgery was a 58-year-old woman who lives in the Kansai region.
When the woman's kidney disease worsened and she began dialysis treatment around spring 2020, she started doing research on the internet in the hopes of receiving a transplant as soon as possible. That was when she found the Tokyo-based NPO's website.
