During extended periods of northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), soft ion precipitation was frequently observed at very high latitudes (>80¿ ILAT) on EXOS D (Akebono). The precipitating protons typically had temperatures of a few hundreds of eV, and were accompanied by precipitating electrons with temperatures of several tens of eV. The densities of the precipitating protons were of the order of 10-1 cm-3, and were usually lower than those of the electrons. During these periods, the ion convection at the highest latitudes was chaotic or weak, but often had an average antisunward component. During periods of strongly northward IMF, ion precipitation was observed at all magnetic local times (MLT). A flux minimum, sometimes below the level of detection of the Akebone suprathermal mass spectrometer instrument, was often found just poleward of the dayside auroral oval. This region is believed to coincide with the open magnetic field lines in the tail lobe. The region of ion precipitation was observed at auroral latitudes on the dawnside when the IMF By changed polarity from negative to positive, it was located at higher latitudes (>80¿ ILAT) on the duskside when the IMF By was positive. These observations suggest a connection between the ion precipitation and the auroral oval.