Japan Press Weekly

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2016 October 26 - November 1 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Former Tokyo Gov. Ishihara stalls on explaining about Toyosu fish market problem

The Tokyo Metropolitan government on October 25 made public the written questions it had sent to former Governor Ishihara Shintaro and his answers in regard to the problem that soil pollution-prevention measures were not properly implemented at the new fish market site in Tokyo’s Toyosu district.

In 2001, Ishihara, who served as the Tokyo governor at that time, withdrew a plan to renovate the Tsukiji fish market and decided to relocate it to a former Tokyo Gas plant site in Toyosu in defiance of strong opposition from wholesalers at the Tsukiji market and other traders concerned.

As the former plant site was polluted with toxic substances, the metropolitan government’s expert panel in 2008 advised that the government take measures to replace contaminated surface soil at the Toyosu site with fresh soil. However, the measures were not properly carried out in the areas for the market’s main buildings.

Asked to explain about the decision-making process favoring the non-compliance with the experts’ advice, Ishihara replied that he received no report about the process.

Concerning the negotiations over the purchase of the Toyosu site, the former governor noted that he was not involved in the negotiations at all.

Asked why the metropolitan government did not ask Tokyo Gas to shoulder its due share of the cost of the decontamination work at the plant site, Ishihara answered that he knows nothing about that because he was not consulted about the issue. He added that he doesn’t remember whether he read the 2008 expert proposal on the soil replacement.

Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko intends to question Ishihara again.

The Japanese Communist Party Tokyo Metropolitan Assemblymembers’ Group demands that twelve people concerned, including Ishihara, serve as unsworn witnesses before the assembly.

Past related articles:
> JCP Tokyo calls for cancellation of Tsukiji fish market relocation to Toyosu [October 5, 2016]
> Arsenic found in water covering underground space of new Toyosu market facilities: JCP Tokyo [September 17, 2016]