Hachiro Okonogi, the candidate for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has confirmed he will bring a halt to Yokohama’s IR bid if he’s elected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Japan.- Yokohama’s bid to develop an\u00a0integrated resort could be over<\/strong> after the ruling party’s candidate for mayor confirmed his opposition to the project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hachiro Okonogi’s opposition means that almost all likely candidatres for August’s mayoral elections are opposed to an IR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okonogi, chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, has been chosen by the ruling\u00a0Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)\u00a0<\/strong>instead of Yokohama\u2019s current\u00a0pro-IR mayor<\/a>\u00a0Fumiko Hayashi<\/strong>, who is approaching the end of her third term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okonogi<\/strong>\u00a0has said: \u201cIf I do become mayor, the first thing I will do is stop the Integrated Resort plan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Okonogi is not personally opposed to the IR development, he said that he could see that residents were opposed to the city government\u2019s plan. “We have not gained the trust of the citizens,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cancellation of Yokohama’s IR bid would derail Genting Singapore<\/a>‘s plans to enter the Japanese market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company recently announced a consortium with\u00a0Sega Sammy<\/strong>,\u00a0Sohgo Security Services Co<\/strong>.,\u00a0Kajima Corp<\/strong>.,\u00a0Takenaka Corp<\/strong> and\u00a0Obayashi Corp<\/strong> to bid to run Yokohama’s proposed IR. Yokohama’s other IR contender is\u00a0Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are two other candidates who annouced they would run for the mayoral elections on specific anti-IR tickets: Masataka Ota<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Akiko Fujimura<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Masataka Ota<\/strong> is 75 years old and a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party. He has been elected to the Yokohama City Council for 11 four-year periods<\/strong> since the 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ota said: \u201cIf I become the mayor of Yokohama, the casino issue will disappear <\/strong>that very day. To put it plainly, I will not do casinos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nOther anti-IR candidates for August mayoral elections<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n