Casino opponents continue to raise their voices across the country, with rallies having occurred this week in Osaka and Tomakomai, both municipalities candidates for an IR development.
The larger event was held in Osaka on Tuesday which gathered about 800 people, including a lecture and a protest march. Speakers emphasized that Yumeshima was likely to prove a dangerous location for an IR, vulnerable to a tsunami and soil liquefaction, and possibly destructive of the habitat of the endangered Little Tern seabird species.
The next morning in Tomakomai, about forty protesters gathered outside the city hall, also citing environmental destruction as a reason for their opposition to an IR, as well as the threats of gambling addiction and youth delinquency.
In both of these cities the local political establishment is supportive of an IR bid, and opinion polls suggest that the local public is divided.
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