DPJ in Tokyo again breaks election promise

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

DPJ in Tokyo again breaks election promise

Breaking its election promise, the Democratic Party of Japan in Tokyo is supporting the plan to relocate the Tsukiji wholesale fish market to a contaminated site in the Toyosu district where a factory of Tokyo Gas had been located.

Following the cancellation of its opposition to the closing of three public hospitals for children, this is the second time that the DPJ has broken promises it made in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election campaign last July.

On March 30, the metropolitan assembly approved the FY 2010 budget which includes expenditure for relocating the wholesale fish market to the Toyosu district with the support of the DPJ and the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties.

At the March 28 special committee meeting on the budget, Japanese Communist Party representative Oyama Tomoko showed that 60 to 70 percent of respondents of opinion polls have expressed opposition to the relocation plan. Another JCP metropolitan assembly member Yoshida Nobuo criticized the DPJ for withdrawing its draft amendment to the budget, stressing that if all parties which had promised to oppose the relocation plan in the election cooperated, they could have prevented the expenditure for the plan from being included in the final budget.

In the metropolitan assembly members election last July, the DPJ included opposition to the relocation of the wholesale market in its Manifestro. Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio held a speech in front of the Tsukiji market on the first day of the election campaign and said, “The only way to stop the relocation is achieving a DPJ victory in the election.”

After the election, the LDP and Komei, the ruling blocs supporting Governor Ishihara Shintaro’s plan to relocate the wholesale market, could not secure more than half of the metropolitan seats.

Many organizations, including wholesalers’ groups, consumers’ groups, and the Japan Association on Environmental Studies, have expressed opposition to building a wholesale fish market on the contaminated soil in the Toyosu district. Members of the JCP as well as DPJ have taken part in rallies and demonstrations against the relocation plan.

However, in the current metropolitan assembly session, the DPJ cancelled the submission of its draft amendment and voted for the proposed budget after conducting closed door meetings with the ruling LDP and Komei party.

- Akahata, March 28, 29, & 31, 2010