By Masayuki Sakamoto

Africaʼ s elephants continue to be poached for their ivory tusks. To combat the poaching crisis, and to support the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)ʼ s 1990 ban on international commercial ivory trade, nations and jurisdictions around the world have taken steps to close their domestic markets for ivory. By closing the market for ivory, governments send a strong signal that the trade in ivory and killing of elephants is unacceptable, streamline enforcement efforts by eliminating legal cover for illegal ivory, and support ivory demand reduction efforts. Nevertheless, one major consumer market remains open ‒ Japan. With an ivory stockpile of 244 tonnes, Japanʼ s domestic market is the worldʼ s largest and most significant legalized ivory market. Evidence indicates its ivory trade controls are porous, enabling the trade in illegal ivory and illegal ivory exports. At least 76 seizures of ivory from Japan were made between 2018 and 2020, mostly in China by Chinese authorities. To further examine illegal ivory export from Japan to China, the Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund (JTEF) turned to court cases in China, which could include more details than seizure data. JTEF identified court cases on illegal export of ivory from Japan into China, and analyzed them in order to contribute to evidence-based decision-making, constructive dialogue, and decisive outcomes from the Parties at the 19th Conference of the Parties (CoP19) to CITES,. In all, 49 public court decisions on 45 different cases between 2010 and 2019, published by the Government of China, were…..

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  identified and analyzed. Fifteen out of 45 cases occurred in 2018 and 2019, after Chinaʼ s domestic ivory market closure went into effect. In addition to summarizing basic information about each case, any information pertaining to the role of Japanʼ s legal market in illegal ivory export and information regarding the defining characteristics of transnational organized crime was assessed.  

Tokyo: Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund (JTEF) 2022. 88p.

By Masayuki Sakamoto

Africa’s elephants continue to be in crisis due to poaching for trading their ivory, and domestic markets for ivory have been closing worldwide to combat this crisis. The 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP18) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) adopted a decision, aimed at promoting the implementation of the recommendation on the closure of domestic ivory markets included in Resolution Conf.10.10 amended at CoP17, which states “the Parties that have not closed their domestic markets for commercial trade in raw and worked ivory are requested to report to the Secretariat for consideration by the Standing Committee to CITES at its 73rd and 74th meetings on what measures they are taking to ensure that their domestic ivory markets are not contributing to poaching or illegal trade.” The Government of Japan (GoJ) submitted reports under the CITES Decision and insisted that “Japan has been implementing stringent measures to ensure that its domestic ivory market is not contributing to poaching or illegal trade”. Most importantly, Japan demonstrates a new business registration requiring ivory dealers to fulfill all requirements for registration and renew their registration every five years; a 100%-registration-mandate on whole tusks when they renew or initially receive their business registrations; maintenance of inventory data including transaction records and traceability information records for cut pieces; and, increased scrutiny of the registration of whole tusks by requiring the result of radiocarbon dating…..

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  However, GoJ’s claims of stringent market controls are flawed and unjustified. Firstly, according to the GoJ’s report, raw and worked ivory dealers must be registered. In this case, they must fulfill all requirements for registration, which requires renewal every five years. But, our analysis of the GoJ’s examination of eligibility of the business registration renewal indicates that businesses are being registered via a token examination with a lack of scrutiny by the competent authorities. Specifically, the reality of the examination of applications for business registration is that the competent authority has left it solely to the authorized private organization, even for the applications by kingpin dealers with track records of illegal trade engagement. Thus, it is obvious that the examination of business registration and renewal is in name only, and it has not exerted any effect on excluding problematic dealers. Secondly, GoJ insists ivory dealers must register all (whole) tusks in their possession when they renew or initially receive their business registrations. This approach is a countermeasure to the problem of unregulated unregistered whole tusks owned by the businesses; the Japanese domestic law requires whole tusks to be registered prior to transactions, however, exempts them from being registered as far as the owner does not intend to transfer them (even the case of tusks stocked by dealers for being consumed as raw material). Thus, it should be questioned whether the 100%-registration-mandate on whole tusks realized the goal of regulating the stockpile of registered dealers through the whole tusk registration or not. Our analysis indicates that registered dealers successfully evaded this requirement by cutting their whole tusks into pieces and then processing them into hanko beforehand. 

Japan: Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund, 2022. 24p.

By Tomomi Kitade and Ayako Toko

Japan was formerly recognized as one of the world’s largest end-use markets for wildlife products, particularly during the height of the national economic boom which lasted throughout the mid-1970s and 1980s. Wildlife products traded to Japan at the time were extensive and wide-ranging, and included everything from animal fur and leather for fashion, exotic animals for pets and zoos, to taxidermy specimens, raw materials for traditional medicine and other traditional manufacturing industries. Rhino horn and elephant ivory, arguably the two symbols of the current illegal wildlife trade crisis, were also traded to Japan in massive quantities until 1980 and 1989, respectively, when international trade bans were introduced pursuant to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). For a time Japan ranked as the world’s largest consumer of both rhino horn and elephant ivory, but the market for these products declined significantly over the years, to a point where only a small fraction of the former domestic market remains significant today. This research sheds light on Japan’s wildlife trade history as a case study on the contributing factors that helped reduce the market for rhino horn and elephant ivory. By conducting comprehensive research into these phenomena, this report aims to elucidate the circumstances and drivers for change, in the hope that it may provide useful understanding for the contemporary context in other Asian markets facing problems with wildlife trade. Additionally, this study critically reviewed the status of the current domestic market and regulations to amplify where Japan stands today in terms of the historical and global context and provides recommendations for addressing current issues in Japan, especially in light of severe contemporary global levels of illegal wildlife trade. Because of the holistic approach taken and the historical knowledge required for this study, information was collected and analysed from a wide range of sources. In terms of literature, sources in the Japanese language were especially utilized, including the database of National Diet records and national newspaper archives. Various data relating to trade, production, and socio-economic status, as well as records associated with regulatory schemes, were obtained from many sources including the Japanese government, domestic industry associations, and CITES-related databases (i.e. the CITES Trade Database and the Elephant Trade Information System). Furthermore, critical insights were gathered through a series of stakeholder/expert interviews, especially with industry members who were directly part of the process. Finally, an original consumer survey was conducted in 2014 to gain further understanding of consumer perspectives.

Tokyo: TRAFFIC Japan, 2016. 96p.