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PRESS RELEASE: The reality of ivory slipping into Japan’s legal markets and being illegally exported overseas through legal loopholes has been revealed: Closing the domestic ivory market is essential
 800 795 Japan Tiger Elephant Organization

On February 2, 2026, it was reported that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested the suspects and sent the documents about the suspect not arrested and the suspected companies to prosecutors regarding the illegal trade of unregistered ivory (whole ivory). The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of the Environment also issued press releases regarding this matter. The high illegality of this case This case is particularly illegal for the following reasons: -Registered businesses did not simply sell unregistered whole tusks on the black market; instead, they falsely represented them as ivory-like materials at an internet auction, thereby allowing them to be sold in the legal market. This case reveals the widespread practice of registered businesses exploiting…

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BLOG:Tokyo Continues to Miss the Mark in Addressing Ivory Industry Subsidies
 1007 1024 Japan Tiger Elephant Organization

While pledging to reform Tokyo’s elephant ivory trade, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) has also been subsidizing and supporting leading ivory industry stakeholders. Last year, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and the Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund (JTEF) drew attention to Tokyo’s ivory subsidies. Since then, some changes have been made, but more reforms are needed particularly in the wake of recent fraud perpetrated by Daigo Ivory, a leading industry stakeholder. 🎥Watch the video produced by EIA TMG’s Ivory Subsidies and Our Recommendations When Tokyo’s elephant ivory industry subsidies were first established in 1994, the goal was to stabilize the industry immediately after the international commercial trade in ivory was banned, since traders would no longer have an international supply…

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BLOG: Member of Tokyo Ivory Arts and Crafts Cooperative Association arrested for allegedly being involved in illegal ivory exports
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On June 2, 2025, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD) arrested the executives of Daigo Ivory, Ltd. (Saitama Prefecture). Daigo Ivory Store is a member of the Tokyo Ivory Arts and Crafts Cooperative Association (21 companies). The charges for the arrest were falsely representing cut pieces (divided/cut tusks) or scraps of elephant ivory as mammoth ivory (violation of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act) and violating the compliance requirements imposed on registered businesses engaged in ivory trade (“special international species business”) (violation of the Act on Conservation of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora / ACES). The direct charge is a violation of the domestic law regarding the sale of elephant ivory, but the larger questions that this case raises…

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BLOG: Tokyo’s Ivory Paradox: Promoting Trade While Promising Reform
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By Masayuki Sakamoto, Executive Director of the Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund and Amy Zets Croke, Senior Manager at the Environmental Investigation Agency In Japan, Tokyo’s elephant ivory trade policy approach is in the middle of a paradox. On one hand, Governor Yuriko Koike’s administration has promised reform of domestic trade controls in ivory to prevent illegal export. On the other hand, Tokyo Metropolitan Government has been providing subsidies to increase demand for ivory and work towards pushing for international trade to be reopened. Where does Tokyo leadership really stand? VIDEO: Tokyo’s Ivory Paradox: Promoting Trade While Promising Reform In Africa, elephants continue to be poached for their tusks to supply the trade in their ivory – today, Japan is…

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REPORT: Submission of the briefing on TMG’s subsidies to ivory industry to the Governor
 484 465 Japan Tiger Elephant Organization

On June 11, 2024, JTEF and Environmental Investigation Agency based in Washington D.C. submitted a briefing: “Tokyo Metropolitan Government Subsidies to Ivory Industry Stakeholders” to Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike (See the summary the briefing on EIA website). It revealed that Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs has paid subsidies annually [yearly average of around 4 million JPY (33,000 USD)] to Tokyo’s leading ivory industry association with the goals of igniting the resumption of international ivory trade, increasing the domestic demand for ivory crafts and products, and facilitating the trade in ivory. Project Examples The ivory association described in the application form dated July 5th, 2021: “Currently, Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana whose president was replaced and…

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PRESS RELEASE: International community relies more on Tokyo than on Japanese government on regulating over open domestic ivory market
 813 817 Japan Tiger Elephant Organization

Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund and 16 NGOs in the world sent a letter to the Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike in January 2023, requesting to enact an ordinance to be adopted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly to close the ivory market in Tokyo with only very narrow exemptions if necessary. The Advisory Council on Regulation of Ivory Trade designated under the initiative of the Tokyo Governor on January 28, 2020 was closed on March 29, 2022, issuing the final recommendations after some delay due to COVID-19 pandemic. The most potential and noteworthy recommendation is: “[…] The Tokyo Metropolitan Government should consider legal or other effective means to ensure that the ivory trade does not contribute to elephant poaching and illegal…

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