Japan Press Weekly

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2017 May 24 - 30 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Gov. Koike’s local party in campaign promise says nothing about Tokyo’s fish market issue

The local political party “Tomin First no Kai” headed by the Tokyo Governor, in its campaign platform, avoids clarifying its stance on the issue of relocating Tokyo’s wholesale market from Tsujiki to Toyosu which will most likely be the main focus of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election in July.

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on May 23 held a press conference in the Diet building and said, “Governor Koike Yuriko-led ‘Tomin First no Kai (Tokyo Citizens First)’ makes no mention of the market transfer issue as if it were asking Tokyo voters to submit a carte blanche to ‘Tomin Firtst no Kai’, which is an irresponsible attitude to take. The group does not deserve to be called a political party.”

Regarding the issue of relocating the internationally-famed Tokyo fish market from the current site in Tsukiji to Toyosu where toxic chemicals have been detected in both the soil and groundwater, the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties are in favor of the Toyosu plan. Meanwhile, the Japanese Communist Party calls for refurbishments of Tsukiji facilities instead of transferring them to the contaminated site.

The election manifesto “Tomin First no Kai” released on the same day only states that it will reexamine the issue and then will judge what to do in a comprehensive manner.

Shii pointed out, “Its public commitment to act on the matter is almost nonexistent. So, a ballot for ‘Tomin First no Kai’ would be meaningless with regard to the market transfer issue.”

An expert panel which was established under the Tokyo Metropolitan government to discuss the issue held a meeting on May 18. The head of the panel said, “We cannot fully promise to detoxify (the Tokyosu site),” and, “We are not intending to decontaminate everything to the level below the present environmental standards.” These statements, as a result, threw the meeting into disorder.

Shii said to the press, “This incident very clearly shows the failure of the Toyosu relocation project. It is fundamentally impossible to construct a fresh food market on contaminated soil.” He insisted that all political parties and groups running in the July election should clarify to voters their positions as to what kind of solutions they are going to propose.”

Past related articles:
> Benzene 100 times higher than legal baseline detected again in groundwater in Toyosu [May 19, 2017]
> Tokyo JCP pledges to win cancellation of Tsukiji relocation in metropolitan assembly election [May 9, 2017]