MEDIA RELEASE Contact: Lindsay Moran, Environmental Investigation Agency, [email protected] Masayuki Sakamoto, Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund, [email protected] TOKYO, JAPAN – 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. A new report by […]
WASHINGTON/TOKYO (June 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, which is examining the trade in ivory in Tokyo prefecture, and propose measures to address it. As Tokyo embraces the “new normal” and continues to adapt to address COVID-19, the advocates are renewing their […]
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Elephant advocates are celebrating reports that Yahoo! Japan, the world’s largest internet ivory retailer, has decided to end sales of elephant ivory on its platforms by November 1st, 2019. The decision was based on evidence that ivory purchased on Yahoo! was being exported illegally to China, according to inside sources. It comes on […]
Read the report Tokyo, Japan – Nearly 200 retailers in Japan are willing to sell ivory hanko knowing the sought-after name seals are destined for export which is illegal, a new investigation reveals. A report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), How Ivory Hanko Destroyed Africa’s Elephants and Drives Japan’s Illegal Ivory Trade, documents the […]
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) praised AEON’s official announcement that it will phase out all sales of elephant ivory by tenants in all of AEON’s numerous malls across Japan by March 2020. EIA president Allan Thornton said: “AEON’s decision to end all ivory sales in its malls sends a strong signal […]
WASHINGTON, DC – The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) today condemned the Government of Japan’s decision to launch a nationwide ivory tusk registration campaign characterizing it as a large-scale amnesty of illegal ivory. “The Government of Japan is not only promoting trade in illegal ivory to sustain its ivory traders, but is also sabotaging international efforts […]