DECEMBER 2020 TEETERING ON THE BRINK JAPAN’S ONLINE IVORY TRADE Ryoko NISHINO Tomomi KITADE TRAFFIC REPORT: TEETERING ON THE BRINK 01 TRAFFIC REPORT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TEETERING ON THE BRINK The completion of this report was only possible with the support TRAFFIC is a leading non-governmental of many individuals from both TRAFFIC and WWF Japan. First organisation working globally on trade in wild and foremost, critical inputs from Sabri Zain, Wilson Lau, Lu animals and plants in the context of both Gao, Giavanna Grein, Joyce Wu, Ling Xu, Linda Chou were biodiversity conservation and sustainable essential in refining the manuscript. Special thanks also go to development. Yu Xiao, Eleanor Drinkwater, Lauren Brown, Shinichi Kawae, for Reproduction of material appearing in this report practical support, as well as Richard Thomas for finalising the requires written permission from the publisher. report. The authors are also grateful for the devoted volunteer work by Zhang Yujia for taking on background data collection The designations of geographical entities in on illegal trade in Chinese language sources. Last but not least, this publication, and the presentation of the the authors express their sincere appreciation that preparation material, do not imply the expression of any of this report was made possible with funding support from opinion whatsoever on the part of TRAFFIC or its supporting organisations concerning the legal WWF Japan. status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. This report was made possible with support from WWF Japan. SUGGESTED CITATION Suggested citation: Nishino, R. and Kitade, T. (2020). Teetering on the brink: Japan’s online ivory trade. TRAFFIC, Japan Office, Tokyo, Japan. GLOSSARY CONTRIBUTING ORGANISATIONS B2C Trade Trade from Business to Consumer. WWF Japan Businesses list products in online stores where consumers purchase them. C2C Trade Trade from Consumer to Consumer. This type of trade is conducted by non-business individuals on platforms such as internet auctions and flea market sites/apps. ISBN NO. 978-4-915613-38-8 Published by:Japan Office, Tokyo, Japan Cryptic listings Listings advertised as not being the product (in this instance ivory) or not explicitly stated © TRAFFIC 2020. Copyright of material published as such. Cryptic listings often use code in this report is vested in TRAFFIC. words, jargon or allusion as to what is really for sale. UK Registered Charity No. 1076722 hanko A stamp used as a signature for individuals and corporations. In Japan, a stamp seal Layout registered with the local government is used Shunji ARAKAWA as an official signature, although increasingly digitalisation is replacing this tradition. 2nd 02edition: TRAFFIC revised REPORT: on 9th TEETERING December ON 2020. THE BRINK CONTENTS KEY POINTS ................................................................................................................................................................... ii KEY RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................................. iii BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................................................... 1 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................................... 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................... 7 Online shopping malls (B2C trade) ................................................................................................................... 8 C2C markets .................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Online auction sites .................................................................................................................................................. 11 Trade that remains a concern ........................................................................................................................... 12 Concerns regarding the domestic market as a whole still contributing to illegal export ......... 15 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................................................... 21 TRAFFIC REPORT: TEETERING ON THE BRINK i KEY POINTS SCOPE OF SURVEY TRAFFIC conducted online surveys to track changes after voluntary ivory bans were introduced from November 2019 on Yahoo Shopping and Yahoo Auction, Japan’s largest platforms for online ivory trade, following similar voluntary bans already implemented by Rakuten-Ichiba, Rakuma and Mercari. The trading practices of a major auction house, Mainchi Auction, and trends in illegal ivory exports were also examined to understand better the domestic ivory market in Japan. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to assess physical markets. RESULTS: Effective measures by companies The number of shops selling ivory on Yahoo Shopping and Rakuten-Ichiba as B2C (business to consumer) trade and the volume of ivory trade on Yahoo Auction, a mixture of B2C and C2C (consumer to consumer) trade, have reduced by almost 100% and more than 99%, respectively as a result of the platform-wide voluntary ivory ban. There was no observable shift in either B2C or C2C trade to other platforms after the introduction of the ivory ban on Yahoo’s platforms. Monitoring of ivory bans by companies such as Mercari and Rakuma was seen to have been effective. CHALLENGE: Cryptic listings Cryptic listings with descriptions such as “ivory-like” or “mammoth ivory” but likely selling genuine elephant ivory occasionally appeared in both B2C and C2C trade, while it was difficult to tell if many other items were genuine because of the quality of the images depicting them. CHALLENGE: Lack of legal compliance Although most of the surveyed platforms had ivory trade bans in place, some instances of ivory sales were encountered. The level of legal compliance with registration requirements by businesses overall was found to be very low, with 74% not displaying registration details and 53% not even being registered businesses. ii TRAFFIC REPORT: TEETERING ON THE BRINK CHALLENGE: Remaining domestic market After the ivory ban on Yahoo Auction, there was a slight increase in the number of listings and sales on Mainichi Auction, although the value of total sales remained stable. Active ongoing trade at the major physical auction house suggests that continued attention to the domestic trade is necessary. CHALLENGE: Ongoing illegal export from Japan Illegal ivory exports from Japan were observed to be ongoing with at least 36 cases of small but noteworthy seizure cases bound for China during 2019. KEY RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT The Japanese Government should develop an action plan toward closure of ivory markets (with narrow exemptions) ahead of the Tokyo Olympics/Paralympics. TO E-COMMERECE COMPANIES Japan-based e-commerce companies who have introduced ivory bans should ensure policy compliance by users, and platforms that still allow ivory trade should introduce similar voluntary ivory bans as a matter of urgency. For a full list of recommendations, see page 23. TRAFFIC REPORT: TEETERING ON THE BRINK iii BACKGROUND 1 TRAFFIC REPORT: TEETERING ON THE BRINK BACKGROUND Poaching of African Elephants Loxodonta africana TRAFFIC in 20176 and 20187 revealed that ivory has and illegal ivory trade globally has reached critical been illegally exported recently from Japan, mainly levels. In response, the Convention on International to China, and that domestic trade, including through Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna online channels, has contributed to illegal exports. and Flora (CITES), at the 17th meeting of the As Japan has a large and partly undocumented Conference of the Parties (CoP17) in 2016, called stockpile of ivory, domestic trade of ivory should for ivory market closures with narrow exemptions be discontinued where strict controls and reliable by revising Resolution Conf.10.10 (Trade in traceability cannot be assured. WWF and TRAFFIC, Elephant Specimens)1. CITES Parties also called in accordance with the CITES Resolution, have for strengthening of international trade controls, recommended that the Japanese Government together with efforts to ensure domestic ivory should consider instituting an ivory market closure markets do not contribute to poaching or illegal with narrow exemptions. trade. At the following CoP18 in 2019, it was agreed that Parties with domestic ivory market deemed to The Japanese Government amended the Law for be contributing to elephant poaching or illegal trade the Conservation of Endangered Species of Wild should take effective countermeasures, and report to Fauna and Flora (LCES) in 20178, which entered the CITES Secretariat on the measures taken, while into effect on 1st June 2018. In addition to this, the Standing Committee2 should also assess their the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) introduced progress (Decision 18.117-119)3. stricter conditions for whole tusk registrations in July 20199. However, these measures only cover ivory Japan has a major ivory market but is not considered businesses and trade in whole tusks. No measures a destination for significant illegal