Yokohama Mayor remains neutral on IRs

Mayor Fumiko Hayashi insisted on her “blank slate” stance on IRs and confirmed no decision has been made about them yet.

Japan.- Yokohama is one of the top candidates in Japan to host an integrated resort (IR) but Mayor Fumiko Hayashi remains neutral on the matter. The city’s main official reaffirmed her “blank slate” position on the matter and said no decision about pursuing a bid has been made so far, even as there’s an ongoing request for information (RFI) process around it.

“I will listen to the ideas of the experts and then make an extremely calm decision,” she said and explained the RFI process has received the attention the government was expecting. The process has drawn 22 companies’ interest, nine of which are foreign IR operators, which will submit reports and other documents between September 10th and September 21st.

Even as Mayor Hayashi has claimed to be neutral, it is expected that she will retake her advocacy for IRs, a stance she had kept until the reelection process approached in early 2017. Alongside the Osaka, Nagasaki and Hokkaido areas, Yokohama is among the main candidates to host a casino in the near future, but it’s the only one to have begun an RFI process in the country.