Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike appears likely to wait until after the July 2 metropolitan assembly election to decide whether to approve the relocation of the Tsukiji fish market amid unrelenting contamination concerns at the new site in the Toyosu district.
"It is difficult to foresee what will happen," Koike said in a recent interview. She said the timing depends on a re-examination of groundwater at the target site, a former gas production plant where benzene 79 times the safety limit has been found.
"The problem is very likely to be protracted," Koike said.