Letter from Tokyo

"Ultrasound photo taken at five weeks and six days. Fetal shape confirmed." This description did not come from a medical office. It appeared at the top of a listing on Mercari, the leading peer-to-peer marketplace in Japan. The listing disappeared on September 1, the date Mercari banned the sale of such embryo photos. The company considered the practice "inappropriate" and not in line with its "core principles."

The company moved in response to a wave of criticism on social media platform X, prompted by a message posted on August 18 condemning the sale of ultrasound images: "What are these things good for, other than pregnancy fraud? The people who buy them are horrible. The people who sell them are trash. These are precious photos of your child, not a way to make pocket money!" wrote a user going by Kingkazu. The intensity of the debate convinced Mercari – already criticized in the past for allowing the sale of overpriced masks during the Covid-19 pandemic – to ban the sale of these photos.

Until then, the trade had been thriving. The photos sold for an average of 2,000 yen (€11.60). Some reached 9,000 yen (€52). There were copies, but also originals, and even customizable versions to add dates or names.

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