public opposition

The enduring unpopularity of IR developments among the Japanese public, as well as the much weaker position of the Shinzo Abe government in comparison to earlier phases, means that local elections may still prove decisive as to whether or not bids will go forward.

Yokohama Mayor Fumiko Hayashi's announcement that her government would make an IR bid reshaped the licensing race in a way that few other events have done.

The municipal government told reporters on Monday that Yokohama’s long period of indecision had ended and that Mayor Fumiko Hayashi would announce later in the week that her city would seek to host a major urban IR at the 47-hectare Yamashita Pier location.

The Yokohama Chamber of Commerce & Industry has publicly urged Mayor Fumiko Hayashi to come off the fence and to quickly make a decision in favor of launching an IR bid.

If a new poll by the Hokkaido Shinbun is to be believed, public opinion in the northernmost prefecture has shifted strongly in opposition to an IR bid.

An opposition party has called on the government to allow the development of a casino that South Korean nationals would be allowed to enter on Saemangeum reclaimed land, located in North Jeolla Province, as a means to boost tourism.

A poll by the Chibagin Research Institute has found that local residents in Mihama Ward are decisively opposed to the idea of an IR development in the Makuhari district, with 56 percent against the concept and only 21 percent in favor.

Naomichi Suzuki, the 37-year-old mayor of Yubari city, has stepped forward as the ruling party’s presumptive candidate for governor of Hokkaido prefecture. With his candidacy will lay the prospects for the Tomakomai IR development project to go forward.

Despite the enthusiasm of the Tomakomai municipal government, dark political clouds seem to be gathering over the prospects for an IR bid from Hokkaido. News...