TOKYO”•Plans to move Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market”•the world’s largest”•were put on ice Wednesday over fears about toxic contamination at the new facility, as the cost of the move soars.
The megacity’s new governor, Yuriko Koike, said she would postpone the move set for November until at least early next year, as she awaits final groundwater testing results at the new site, a former gas plant.
Plans to uproot the more than 80-year-old market, a popular tourist attraction, have been in the works for years, with advocates citing the need for upgraded technology.
But Koike, a former TV anchorwoman elected last month as the Japanese capital’s first female governor, had pledged to reconsider the plan.
“Needless to say, it is a market that handles fresh food,” Koike told a press conference as she announced the delay.
“The Tokyo metropolitan government, which chiefly runs the market, is responsible for telling the world: ‘It’s safe.’”
Critics of the move cite contaminated soil found at the former gas production site.