JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Illegal trade in ivory is rampant in Japan, according to a report released on Monday by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and the Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund (JTEF).
The demand for ivory is huge in Japan who has systematically failed to comply with obligations set by the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) to verify the legality of the origin and acquisition of whole tusks presented for registration, said EIA President Allan Thornton.
Thornton made the remarks while releasing a report titled "The Dirty Secrets of Japan's Illegal Trade" at a press conference held on the sidelines of the 17th Conference of Parties (CoP17) to CITES, being held in Johannesburg.
Thornton said the report was based on investigations where they got videos, photos and telephone conversations about illegal ivory trade in Japan.
Thornton said Japan has lost control of the raw and worked ivory because it fails to require the marking of whole tusks and registration of cut pieces over 1 kg and 20 cm in height.
He said there are over 8,000 ivory retailers in Japan.
While the Japanese law requires ivory traders to register, many are operating without doing that, Thornton said.
He said many in Japan use the online advertisements to do the illegal sales.
CITES requires that there must be proof of legal origin and acquisition when ivory is registered.
Thornton said some ivory are smuggled to Japan in packed international mail written GIFT or SAMPLE.
He said there is no meaningful control by custom officials and also poor legislation to control illegal ivory sale in Japan.
"There are no adequate documents in Japan. Tusks of unknown origin and vintage are entering the country in big numbers," Thornton said.
Thornton said investigators from his organization approached 37 traders in Japan and 30 of them acknowledged illegal activity to sell processed ivory.
The international trade in ivory has been banned since 1989.
Thornton said many traders register their ivory by lying that they got it before 1989 while others cut it to small pieces and sell them.
Masayuki Sakamoto, executive director of Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund, said Japanese custom officials have no capacity to monitor the smuggling of ivory.
He said the Japanese does not cooperate with organizations or governments including Interpol to combat illegal ivory trade.
It is impossible for the government to monitor the movement of ivory within Japan as urged by CITES, Sakamoto said.
The report indicated in 2015, ivory sales through Yahoo Japan reached 7 million U.S. dollars.
The EIA recommends that Japan close legal domestic ivory markets and online sites that deal with ivory. It also calls on the Japanese government to cooperate on elephants conservation initiatives and combat smuggling of ivory to the country.
Thornton said they have handed over the transcripts, videos and all the details of their investigations to the Japanese government.
