Tag: nippon

At one point the most anticipated IR development, these are now lonely days for the Osaka Yumeshima IR, whose buzz has become nearly inaudible, following a dramatic shift in local business attitudes.

Anyone who thought that the Yokohama mayoral race would be between the pro-IR incumbent and a major anti-IR opposition challenger has watched that scenario go out the window over the past couple weeks.

While it is still premature to say that Yokohama is definitely out of the Japan IR race, the events of the past week brought that prospect much closer. It is worthwhile to consider what the landscape would look like should this major port city in fact withdraw.

The person who appears headed to become the united opposition candidate in the August 22 Yokohama mayoral election has finally stepped forward. Takeharu Yamanaka, 48, is a professor at Yokohama City University who specializes in public health and medical statistics. Recently he has been working on anti-Covid countermeasures.

The message may not be what Japan’s policymakers want to hear, but there was clear confirmation again last week that the Covid pandemic has changed the rules of the game when it comes to the Japan IR licensing process and not in their favour.

After a process that has gone on for more than half a decade, the shape of the Japan IR consortiums is finally beginning to emerge.

It may be a little early to write the obituary for Japan’s IR policy, but additional evidence was presented this past week about what could already be described as the biggest flaw in the design of Japan’s IR regulation—the short periods that IR licenses will be valid.

Japan’s bid to create a world-beating IR market is hanging in the balance after a series of high-profile exits and political mismanagement.

Wakayama’s IR bid appears to be on the ropes as the Suncity Group has withdrawn from the RFP process.

Even before the Covid pandemic it was apparent that the pachinko industry, at least in its current form, possessed a dying business model. Recent events have only accelerated the trends.