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August 12th is World Elephant Day, a day to celebrate the world’s iconic elephants and their preservation and protection. Thousands of elephants are killed every year for their tusks to make trinkets including hanko or name seal stamp, and in some African regions, elephant populations are being completely decimated. Any existing ivory market is a threat to elephants everywhere. To address the threat of ivory trade, many governments have closed their ivory markets, to send a signal that ivory consumption is unacceptable and also to simplify enforcement. The United States, China, the United Kingdom and other ivory consuming nations have taken steps to shut down their domestic ivory markets. Japan’s ivory market, however remains open based on its firm policy,…

The Covid-19 pandemic has been damaging human health, our daily lives and economy all over the world. As a consequence of the sudden standstill of many human activities, the living creatures in the wild are significantly affected somehow.　They seem to be less pressured in their habitat than before the pandemic and have set about stretching their range to the limit, for example, tiger sightings have become more common in villages in India. This phenomenon may probably be because of stagnant tourism and development projects, and restricted daily movement of the residents. What’s happening to poaching and illegal trade of wild animals? Looking at the recent news, 6 elephants were killed with their tusks chopped off within just one day in…

According to predictions, corona virus is unlikely to stop influencing things soon. Many people may feel it’s an unexpected disaster. But, it’s not true. This kind of incident could have happened at any moment. Our society has already experienced outbreak of SARS and subsequently, several types of bird flu, etc. The root of outbreak, even on a pandemic level, in some cases like these newly emerging infectious diseases, are the results of human beings stirring up the natural ecosystems violently, which have been diversified in each area of the planet.. We warned the same thing at that time, when SARS flourished, but have to repeat it now that we must reconsider about commercial exploitation, consumption and trade of wild animals not…

June 17, 2019: The African Elephant Coalition (AEC) comprising 32 African countries and the majority of African elephant range states (28) made a press release that AEC Council of Elders called on the government of Japan to close its ivory market, among the world’s largest, and support stronger protection of Africa’s elephants. “We’re calling on Japan to follow the example of China and close its domestic ivory market. We believe that doing so will strengthen Japan’s international conservation image ahead of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics”, said Azizou El Hadj Issa, Chairman of the AEC’s Council of Elders, in his letters to Taro Kono, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yoshiaki Harada the Minister of Environment and Hiroshige Seko, the Minister…

June 7, 2019, Japan’s Ministry of the Environment (MoE) announced their “plan to tighten the examination on applications for ivory whole tusk registration”. https://www.env.go.jp/press/106849.html Domestic ivory trade in Japan is controlled by the “Law for Conservation of Endangered Species” (LCES). The key of the controls is the regulation “prohibiting transferring or receiving ivory without registration”. However, the regulated “ivory” is limited to “tusks maintaining their whole shape”. Ivory cut pieces and products not maintaining the original silhouette like a crescent can be traded without registration. But, in other words, is it true ivory trade has been effectively regulated as long as whole tusks are concerned? That’s not true, also. Needless to say, some legal requirements for allowing registration are set…