The report released last week on the fiasco over relocation of Tokyo's main wholesale market to Toyosu points to a glaring deficiency in governance on the part of the metropolitan government. Not only was it giving false explanations to the public and the metropolitan assembly about steps taken to shield the new market facility from toxic substances found on its site, but it is unable to identify who made the decision and when to change the construction plan that was recommended by a panel of experts.

In releasing the report based on the hearing of metropolitan government officials, Gov. Yuriko Koike said the decision not to cover the whole market site with deep layers of clean soil but create hollow underground spaces under the main market buildings was made "step by step" over time and "in an atmosphere" — saying that it's hard to pinpoint who in the bureaucracy made which decision and when. That should not be the way decisions are made in an organization like the metropolitan government. On the other hand, it would be a shame if officials were still trying to cover up for each other to blur their responsibility.

When the delayed relocation of the wholemarket market — currently in Tsukiji in Chuo Ward — to the Toyosu site takes place will be decided by judging the safety of the Toyosu facility in scientific means, Koike said. But the governor must also break through what she called a system of collective irresponsibility to clarify who made the key decisions and why. Otherwise, any reassurance of the Toyosu market's safety by the metropolitan government may not be convincing enough for consumers as well as the market's merchants, who are already dismayed by the debacle.