WASHINGTON\/TOKYO (June 26, 2020)\u2014 Elephant advocates worldwide are urging the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, under Governor Yuriko Koike\u2019s leadership, to complete Tokyo\u2019s elephant ivory trade assessment, which is examining the trade in ivory in Tokyo prefecture, and propose measures to address it. As Tokyo embraces the \u201cnew normal\u201d and continues to adapt to address COVID-19, the advocates are renewing their plea to protect elephants by urging the Tokyo government to immediately restart the Advisory Committee on Regulation of Ivory Trade, which has been suspended for four months.<\/p>\n
While Africa\u2019s elephants continue to be poached for their ivory, the government of Japan has failed to adequately control the legalized domestic trade in ivory, and loopholes in the superficial regulations have facilitated illegal trade. For decades whole tusks have been sold with no real controls in place to confirm legality. Eighty percent of raw ivory in Japan is processed into hanko<\/em> signature seals. Japan\u2019s ivory trade is also an international trade problem, undermining other bans on ivory trade. Since 2018, local authorities in China have made at least 65 seizures of ivory from Japan<\/a>.<\/p>\n Major Japanese retailers have ceased elephant ivory sales to eliminate their role in the illegal domestic trade and export, including Yahoo! Japan, Rakuten, Ito-Yokado, and Aeon.<\/p>\n In January 2020, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced the development of a new committee to examine Tokyo\u2019s ivory trade and regulations, and assess and propose measures to be taken by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The committee of eight experts met once in January, but subsequent meetings and an expected policy announcement in May were understandably put on hold. In March, 30 international and Japanese environmental and conservation organizations sent a letter<\/a> commending the Tokyo Metropolitan Government\u2019s progressive action.<\/p>\n Iris Ho, senior wildlife specialist at Humane Society International, said \u201cWhile governments worldwide are busy tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, unfortunately, poachers are not on lockdown and are seizing the moment to kill wildlife with impunity, as evidenced in the recent death of six poached elephants in one day in Ethiopia. A ban on the commercial ivory trade in Tokyo prefecture will inject a much-needed positive development in global conservation as humanity reexamines our relationship with nature.\u201d<\/p>\n The Tokyo-based executive director of Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund, Masayuki Sakamoto, said \u201cWhile we are living and operating with COVID-19 in mind, Tokyo is evolving to be an international city in the \u2018new normal\u2019 time, which should ensure both the city\u2019s socioeconomic function and the residents\u2019 safety through measures including digitalization, which the government of Japan has failed at so far<\/a>, while giving full attention to global standards. Now is the time for the vast majority of Tokyo residents to welcome steps to end the ivory trade, which has been mostly consumed just for carving hanko<\/em>, in the face of elephants\u2019 distress and international criticism.\u201d<\/p>\n