Tokyo’s famed Tsukiji fish market – the largest in the world - is to move from its central location to the site of a former gas plant after a series of delays over concerns about toxic contamination, the city’s governor has confirmed.

The decision by Yuriko Koike comes nearly a year after she halted the move owing to worries about high levels of cancer-causing chemicals in the soil at the newly built facility on a manmade island in Tokyo Bay.

The 80-year-old Tsukiji market, known for its new year tuna auctions, is one of the Japanese capital’s biggest tourist attractions as well as an important wholesaler. More than 1,600 tonnes of seafood worth about 1.6bn yen (£11.3m) pass through the market every day.

The present location, near the upscale Ginza shopping district, is earmarked for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The government had initially planned to sell all or part of the site, but has since said it would be redeveloped as a tourist area and that some merchants would be able to return.

“After that, we will turn it into a new market with a food theme park,” Koike told reporters on Tuesday, adding that redevelopment would happen within five years to capitalise on Tsukiji’s globally recognised name.

“I think it’s wisest to use both Toyosu and Tsukiji,” she said, referring to the new location.



Koike, a former TV news anchor elected last year as Tokyo’s first female governor, did not say when the main market would move to Toyosu.



“We’ll need to discuss detailed schedules with the people involved,” she said.

Last week, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the governor was mulling the possibility of opening the new site in May next year.

Plans to uproot the market have been in the works for years, with advocates citing the need for upgraded refrigeration technology.

Tokyo’s governor, Yuriko Koike, announces the relocation of the fish market. Photograph: Kimimasa Mayama/EPA

Koike has also said the market’s age and vulnerability to a big earthquake meant it had to be rebuilt. But those plans were shelved after she said last summer she would postpone the move originally set for late 2016.

The relocation plan was marred by problems, including the discovery that contractors had inexplicably failed to fill in a basement at the new site with clean soil as a buffer against underground pollution.

In January, results of the final testing showed that levels of toxic materials, including benzene, detected in underground water at the new site were above official limits. The previous test showed high levels of mercury inside the basement.

Koike said on Tuesday the market could move as long as the pollution issues were tackled.

The local government has already paid a 86bn yen (£608m) in cleanup costs at the new facility, and Koike had earlier said she might reconsider the relocation.

Tsukiji’s wholesalers have voiced frustration over the delay, saying postponement of the move was costing them millions of dollars a month.

The delay has also complicated the construction of a road planned for the Tokyo 2020 Games to speed journeys from the yet-to-be-built Olympic village to the national stadium, raising fears of traffic jams around key venues.

The confirmation of the Tsukiji move could erode Koike’s support in the run-up to a metropolitan assembly election on 2 July.



The governor, who now enjoys support rates of more than 60%, is aiming for a majority for her fledgling, reform-minded Tokyo Citizens First party and its allies, hoping that will enable her to carry out reforms.

Hakubun Shimomura, a ruling-party lawmaker, said the delay in moving the market had already led to a huge waste of taxpayers’ money.

“The question is whether this is rational and cost-effective,” he said before Koike’s decision was announced.

Agence France Presse and Reuters contributed to this report