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sweet Japanese traditional desert "ZENZAI"!

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So far, there has been no measurable change in the sex ratio of Japanese new Born's. That may be explain in part by the fact that, sec-selective abortion is unheard of in Japan, doctors and sociologists says.

Abortion is legal until the 22nd week of pregnancy, but the Japan society of Obstetrics and Gynecology forbids doctors to reveal the gender of a baby before then because of concerns about gender-targeted abortions.

Demographers wonder whether and how fast the boy-to-girl birth rate might change as low birthrates fall further and the technology for selecting a baby's gender grows more reliable, cheaper and to many people, less morally troubling than abortion.

Mr SUGIYAMA, whose how-to-books on sex selection has sold more than 465000 copies. In the past 6 years, claims that his method is about 80 percent effective. It is based on such low-tech techniques as charting the ovulation cycle using body temperature, as well as the use of a PH-altering jelly, that favors survival of the sperm of choice.

Although inheritance laws in Japan no longer favor sons over daughters, and failure to produce a model heir is no longer grounds for divorce, pressure to bear sons - especially in rural areas has not vanished altogether, according to another doctor at the clinic SATOSHI IENAGA. He said some women who have one or more girls still cite a traditional proverb "A bird who doesn't have a son finds her position is weak" to explain why they want help conceiving a boy.

Still, the national institute of population and social security research in Tokyo has systematically documented. The growing preference for girls by asking the same questions of married couples every five years in 1982 the survey found that of those families who wanted only one child, 51.5 percent wanted a boy, But by 1987 only 37.1 percent wanted a boy. and by 1997 it was just 25 percent.

The vast majority of couples say they want two children, a boy and a girl, about the same as in 1982. But the number of families who want two boys and two girls jumped to 13 percent for 8.9 percent in 1982. Only 2.1 percent of couples say they want two boys.

A majority of Japanese men still prefer to have a boy if they have only one child. But most men want one child of each sex. This might not translate into more female births, as many men might not cooperate in the bedroom or the doctor's office with the sex-selection regimen chosen by their wifes.