{"id":7415,"date":"2020-06-18T22:35:32","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T22:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=7415"},"modified":"2026-04-24T04:18:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T07:18:46","slug":"tokyo-governor-candidates-divided-over-ir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/tokyo-governor-candidates-divided-over-ir","title":{"rendered":"Tokyo governor candidates divided over IR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The potential candidates are strongly divided over whether there should be a casino in the city\u2019s waterfront area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Japan.- Integrated resorts (IR) have entered the electoral debate ahead of Tokyo’s gubernatorial election on July 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a press conference in the Japanese capital, runners for Tokyo governor were asked their views on possible IR developments for the waterfront area and opinions were strongly divided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former chairman of Nichibenren, Kenji Utsunomiya, said he believed there was already enough tourism in the city without casinos owing to Japan’s culture and nature, that an IR could cause negative effects such as security breaches, gambling addiction and debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former actor and Reiwa Shinsengumi representative Taro Yamamoto, argued that the IR process should be dropped, claiming that the city was already \u201coverflowing with gambling\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, who is predicted to win a second term, said were disadvantages to the development of casinos but that there were advantages in terms of foreign tourism and economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other candidates were in favor of an IR development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taisuke Ono, Deputy Governor of Kumamoto Prefecture, said casinos could be a major attraction for the city as long as the selection of partners was transparent and measures were taken to fight gambling addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Takashi Tachibana of The Party to Protect the People from NHK, another runner, was entirely in favour of a casino on the waterfront. He said a casino in the city could prevent local money flowing to Incheon in South Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alhough opinions among potential candidates were divided, at the national level Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, recently said he expects to move forward<\/a><\/em><\/strong> with IR developments to help Japan\u2019s tourism industry bounce back faster after the Covid-19 crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The potential candidates are strongly divided over whether there should be a casino in the city\u2019s waterfront area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The debate over Integrated Resorts (IRs) in Tokyo's waterfront area has become a key issue in the upcoming gubernatorial election, with candidates expressing strong divisions. While some candidates highlight potential negative social impacts like gambling addiction and security concerns, others emphasize the economic benefits of foreign tourism and growth. This local political division contrasts with the national government's stance, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which supports IR development to boost post-COVID-19 tourism recovery.","focusai_entities":"Kenji Utsunomiya, Nichibenren, Taro Yamamoto, Reiwa Shinsengumi, Yuriko Koike, Taisuke Ono, Kumamoto Prefecture, Takashi Tachibana, The Party to Protect the People from NHK, Shinzo Abe","focusai_location":"Japan, Tokyo, Incheon, South Korea","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.85), operator_casino (0.95), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"IR Governance Frameworks","query":"What specific regulatory and governance frameworks are being proposed by pro-IR candidates to mitigate social risks, such as problem gambling and security breaches, and ensure transparent partner selection for a Tokyo waterfront Integrated Resort?"},{"label":"Impact on National IR Strategy","query":"How might a potential shift in Tokyo's gubernatorial leadership, particularly a strong anti-IR stance, impact the national government's broader strategy for Integrated Resort development across Japan and the timeline for subsequent licensing processes?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,16338],"tags":[473,470,14999],"class_list":["post-7415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casino-news","category-east-asia-news","tag-ir","tag-japan","tag-tokyo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7415"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7421,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7415\/revisions\/7421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}