Willing to Sell: Snapshot Investigations of Ivory Hanko Retailers in Japan
Japan is home to the world’s largest legal domestic ivory market, and its weak ivory trade controls enable consistent trafficking in ivory, including illegal exports.
EIA and Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund completed two snapshot investigations in 2020 as a follow-up to a similar 2018 investigation to determine retailers’ willingness to sell an ivory hanko knowing the customer planned to export it, which is illegal.
Investigations of Japanese hanko retailers revealed that many are willing to sell an ivory product knowing that it will be exported internationally despite most being aware that ivory export is illegal.
Recent Blog Posts
Thirty Years Since the International Ivory Ban, Say Goodbye to Ivory Hanko
01/10/2020
Around 20,000 elephants have been killed every year in Africa, for the past decade at least, to supply the global trade in ivory. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) decided to end international ivory trade in 1989. This year marks thirty years since the ban entered into effect, on January 18, 1990. Still, why does the poaching continue?
End of an Era: Yahoo! Japan Ceases Ivory Sales
11/13/2019
End of an Era: Yahoo! Japan Ceases Ivory Sales
Recent Reports
NGO Appeal to Tokyo for Urgent Measures on Ivory
02/18/2021
EIA and 25 international non-government environmental and conservation organizations sent a letter February 18, 2021 to follow up on a previous appeal from March 2020. Our organizations encourage the closure of Tokyo's ivory market and also recommend some actions the Tokyo Metropolitan Government should take before the ivory market can be closed, including during the rescheduled 2020 Olympic Games. The letter can be viewed in English and Japanese.
EIA 2018 Impact Report
09/09/2019
In 2018 the Environmental Investigation Agency continued to confront the greatest environmental threats facing the world today. The EIA team pursued, documented and exposed the activities of syndicates that threaten endangered species, damage the climate and ozone layer, and drive the trade in timber stolen from the world’s most important remaining forests.
Recent Press Releases
Japanese Retailers Willing to Sell Ivory Hanko for Illegal Export
12/17/2020
Investigations of Japanese hanko retailers revealed that many are willing to sell an ivory product knowing that it will be exported internationally despite most being aware that ivory export is illegal.
Tokyo urged to resurrect ivory trade assessment
06/26/2020
Elephant advocates worldwide are urging the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, under Governor Yuriko Koike’s leadership, to complete Tokyo’s elephant ivory trade assessment
Recent Videos
Japan’s Ivory Trade Faces Intensifying Opposition at Home and Abroad (Japanese Subtitles)
10/29/2019
Japan’s Ivory Trade Faces Intensifying Opposition at Home and Abroad
Japan’s Ivory Trade Faces Intensifying Opposition at Home and Abroad
10/29/2019
Japan’s Ivory Trade Faces Intensifying Opposition at Home and Abroad