Fumio Kishida, elected prime minister of Japan last month, won a comfortable majority in the House of Representatives in the November general election.
A member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Kishida is a supporter of the country’s integrated resort (IR) plan to boost international tourism. Speaking before parliament on October 11, Kishida said his administration will “take necessary procedures to realize integrated resorts.”
He said IRs would be “an important measure to push Japan to be an advanced tourism country.” Up to three IRs could be approved by the central government next year in the first round of development. Currently, only three local locales are in the running: Osaka, Nagasaki and Wakayama.
Wherever the resorts are developed, Kishida said they should offer “not only a casino but also MICE and large hotels to entertain families, together with stringent gambling addiction measures.”
According to Asia Gaming Brief, the outcome of the elections can be viewed as positive news for MGM Resorts and Orix Corp., partners who hope to win their bid for an IR in Osaka. In that prefecture, the Ishin To Party almost quadrupled its seats, making it the third-largest party in the country, winning 14 of 18 seats and ousting the LDP completely.
“In the IR space, if Osaka was already the firm favorite prior to the election, it is even more certain now that they will bring the license bacon home and Bill Hornbuckle can start heating up the grill in his backyard and invite his Orix partners for an early celebration barbecue,” said industry executive Daniel Cheng. “The LDP will now need their friendly opposition ‘partner’ more than ever and will be eagerly serving the IR license to Governor Yoshimura in a sterling silver platter.”
Overall, the ruling LDP returned to power, removing other potential political upsets to the IR licensing process.
“The road looks clear for the continuation in the ongoing six-month host bid submission window which will close on 30 April 2022 after which up to three cities and their associated development consortiums will be selected a few months after,” Cheng said.
“Hokkaido is the other big story in my view, namely Tomakomai City, which was the de facto IR site for the prefecture but withdrew over a year ago,” Cheng added. “There are many anticipating a Hokkaido comeback in the IR race at some juncture,” perhaps seven years after the first wave of IRs open. At that point, the government could authorize additional IRs.
In related news, according to GGRAsia, Japan’s Current Corp., a firm previously linked to an IR plan in Nagasaki, says one of the group’s units, Shotoku Corp., is acting as an “advisor” to Shinjo City, in Yamagata prefecture, in the Tohoku region of Japan’s main island, “with the aim of attracting” an integrated resort project there.
