Japan not so inocent in the ivory slave trade

Experts say most illegal ivory heads for China, where it is seen as a status symbol. By some estimates the country accounts for as much as 70 percent of global demand

But the US-based Environmental Investigation Agency, a campaign group, covertly filmed four ivory traders in different cities in Japan who showed no hesitation in selling ivory to Chinese buyers.

An undercover EIA investigator presented himself as a Chinese buyer and explicitly showed that he was willing to send ivory to China, EIA president Allan Thornton told reporters as the group showed the footage.

"You came too late," a trader in Osaka is shown saying. "We sold so many ivory tusks that ivory has been vanishing from Japan."

Another trader in the central Japanese city of Gifu said: "I don't care, Okay? Illegal is okay."