Four major parties in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly agreed Monday to set up a powerful committee to look into the issues dogging the Tsukiji fish market
Four major parties in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly agreed Monday to set up a powerful committee to look into the issues dogging the Tsukiji fish market relocation plan and possibly summon former Gov. Shintaro Ishihara as a sworn witness.
Ishihara was governor when the metropolitan government decided to buy land in the nearby Toyosu area in Koto Ward to host the famous but aging fish market in Chuo Ward.
Gov. Yuriko Koike has put the move on hold amid pollution at the new site, which was hosted a gas production plant, and has publicly called on Ishihara to clarify his role in the purchase.
The committee, which will have the power to compel individuals to testify and submit relevant records, may be set up as soon as Wednesday, the opening day of the assembly’s next session. Witnesses who give false testimony could face perjury charges.
Another special assembly panel on the relocation issue has already decided to summon Ishihara and his deputy governor at the time, Takeo Hamauzu, for questioning between March 18 and 20 about the land purchase from Tokyo Gas Co.
Although the former governor has expressed a readiness to appear before the special assembly committee, it cannot compel him to do so. This has led to calls to form a new panel with stronger investigative powers under the local autonomy law.
