Yuriko Koike is not making friends as she starts on the Japanese capital’s biggest problems. The city’s governor, elected in July on a reform ticket, is wrestling with developers who are angry that she is delaying the move of the main fish market to what turns out to be a contaminated site. Meanwhile, a committee she set up to review the escalating costs for the 2020 Olympics, which Tokyo will host, has suggested using some existing venues, not just building new (and lucrative) ones. Some politicians and bureaucrats are dismayed by her attempts to make the workings of the Tokyo council more transparent. For now Ms Koike seems determined to push ahead with her overhaul of the metropolitan area, whose economy is roughly the size of Canada’s. There may be limits to her ability to clean things up—given the clout of the council and city bureaucrats—but she is trying.