Majority of Japanese oppose foreign worker bill
Hajime Satomi, chairman and CEO of Japanese entertainment giant Sega Sammy Holdings Inc., is taking a good look at the Tokyo metropolitan area as a possible integrated resort site, but hasn’t completely ruled out Osaka, which will host the 2025 World Expo.
Satomi acknowledged that the selection of Osaka as the Expo site means a casino resort will likely be developed “in conjunction with the event.”
“However, he continued, “there are still some issues in terms of infrastructure development. As we are a Kanto-based company, we intend to keep monitoring the situation for now and think carefully about whether we should actively engage in IR development in Osaka.” Japan’s Kanto region includes the Greater Tokyo Area, reported GGRAsia.
Satomi told the news outlet that Sega Sammy wants to be a majority owner of any Japan casino project in which it participates. “Assuming we pursue development in the Tokyo metropolitan area, it is possible that it will be a large-scale project, and we do not know how much the total equity share will be, but we would like to hold the largest equity share in it,” he said. “We need to ensure we have that level of investment capability.”
Satomi said the company’s financial investment is contingent on “the level of internal rate of return that is set based on the presumed income amount.
“So we intend to evaluate the investment-return balance,” he said. “We will secure the capital required based on this by building up our net cash as well as considering financing activities such as loans.”
According to a November statement from Sega Sammy, the company is “accumulating know-how” in resort management at the South Korean foreigners-only casino resort Paradise City. More than 80 Sega Sammy employees are now in management at Paradise City, “including 57 who are steadily acquiring expertise on site,” the company stated.
If the company doesn’t win one of Japan’s first three IR licenses, it doesn’t expect to sit on the sidelines, management stated. “It will be necessary to hire thousands or tens of thousands of people in Japan. Sega Sammy is developing a framework that will make it possible to fill the majority of skilled positions with Japanese personnel.”
That may be good news for voters, a majority of whom oppose the Diet’s bill that would bring more foreign workers into the country. According to the Kyodo News poll, 65.8 percent of those polled are against the plan to accept up to 345,000 migrant workers over five years to address the nation’s labor shortage; 24.8 percent of respondents support the legislation.
