Osaka businessman pushes for IR

A chairman of the Kansai Economic Federation expressed his wishes for the city to enact the IR Implementation Bill.

Japan.- Masayoshi Matsumoto, chairman of Kansai Economic Federation, recently voiced his support to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and said that he would be in favor of the government bidding for the 2025 World Expo, as well as the enactment of the IR Implementation Bill in order to boost Osaka’s activity and turn Japan into a tourism destiny.

According to banking group Nomura, which will join with seven local companies to build a passenger ship terminal with shopping mall and hotel in Yokohama, praised Osaka, as an ideal location to develop IRs should legislation get passed. The local government and the business community are in favor for the central government to enact the legislation that would allot an integrated resort to be build in Japanese cities, preferably in Osaka Bay.

On the other hand, casino opponents held earlier this month an event called “Preventing the Establishment of the IR Implementation Act,” which was organised by the Osaka Bar Association. Lawyer Tetsuya Yoshida noted that about 5 million people in Japan are suspected of some level of gambling addiction and said: “Addiction is a social problem that should be considered separately from casinos. It is wrong to legalise casinos in order to take credit for instituting anti-addiction policies.”

Osaka’s government would have to chose an operator to run the Yumeshima IR by the end of 2019 and then it would open its doors by 2023 or 2024. The Governor of the city Ichiro Matsui urged the national government to pass the legislation necessary to continue the process to build an IR: “This is a message to please pass the IR Implementation Bill in this autumn’s Diet session. For our part here in Osaka, all of our preparations are completed.”