Archive

_2021-03-19
Japan’s IR process appears to move forward in fits and starts, but there were two noteworthy events to emerge at the end of the week that advance the slow process towards the country's first casinos.

_2021-03-11
The administration of Mayor Fumiko Hayashi has begun efforts to persuade local residents to embrace IR development in Yokohama, but anyone looking for an inspiring public relations campaign will need to search elsewhere.

_2021-03-09
It has been revealed that only about half of the warehouses at Yamashita Pier have agreed to relocate in the event that the Yokohama IR development is licensed for the location by the central government.

_2021-03-04
It has been the basic assumption within the IR development community that incumbent Fumiko Hayashi would be running for reelection as Yokohama mayor when her third term expires this coming August. But that prospect now appears less certain than it once...

_2021-03-02
Yokohama Deputy Mayor Toshihide Hirahara has denied to opposition politicians that an IR corruption case like that of 500 .com can occur in Yokohama because the rules on contact between officials and operators are much stricter in the city than they are...

_2021-03-01
An unexpected factor may impact the crucial Yokohama mayoral election scheduled for August, and that is the fact that 74-year-old Fumiko Hayashi may be in failing health.

_2021-02-26
A Yokohama court dismissed an effort by anti-casino local residents to argue that the city government could not make use of the land at Yamashita Pier for IR construction.

_2021-02-17
The municipal government of Yokohama has announced that one IR operator has already passed its qualification screening, though the name of the company was not disclosed.

_2021-02-01
Wynn Resorts has confirmed to the Asahi Shinbun that it has dropped out of the Yokohama IR race, leaving five firms believed to be in the running; Galaxy, Genting, Melco, Sega Sammy, and Shotoku.

_2021-01-22
Yokohama city has launched its RFP process to build a major urban IR at the Yamashita Pier candidate site. The timeline calls for the operator partner to be selected in the summer and the agreement finalized in the autumn.

_2021-01-21
The administration of Yokohama Mayor Fumiko Hayashi is expected to announce shortly the start of its RFP process to build a major urban IR at Yamashita Pier, potentially becoming the largest IR development in Japan.

_2021-01-18
The first person to declare their candidacy for the post of Yokohama mayor is the opposition city councilman Masataka Ota. As he declared his candidacy, he announced that ending the city’s IR bid would be his top priority that he would carry out on...

_2021-01-14
When Yokohama Mayor Fumiko Hayashi announced at a press conference three months ago that she would respect the outcome of any popular referendum on IR development, we took her at her word.

_2021-01-11
We are coming off a very difficult week in which one of the world’s primary temples of democracy, the US Capitol Building, was stormed by an angry mob, leaving five people dead and much of the world shaken. Does this pose any special concerns for the...

_2021-01-04
Yokohama Mayor Fumiko Hayashi continues her appeal to local residents to support IR development, arguing that it is a “powerful means” to secure needed tax revenues for social costs and more.

_2020-12-28
Yokohama Mayor Fumiko Hayashi is effectively violating her promise to respect the results of a popular referendum on IR development.

_2020-12-09
The leaders of the citizen’s group that successfully collected enough resident signatures to trigger a popular referendum on IR development visited the chairman of the Yokohama City Council and asked him to grant their request that the city’s IR initiative...

_2020-09-18
For the first time since the IR legislation was passed into law, Japan has a new prime minister. Fortunately for Japan’s pro-IR community, it is Yoshihide Suga.

_2020-09-10
Leader of the Opposition Yukio Edano toured Yamashita Pier, the proposed site for Yokohama’s major urban IR, and renewed his vow to combat the gover