Pachinko company presents new Hokkaido IR plan

Wednesday 13th of December 2017

On Thursday, the Heiwa Corporation, a major privately-owned manufacturer of pachinko and pachislot machines, offered its own plan to build a Japanese IR, this one in the city of Kitahiroshima, on the southern outskirts of Sapporo City.

The plan calls for an IR to be built upon the existing Sapporo Kitahiroshima Golf Club (a 2.8 million square meter site) and would feature the addition of an exhibition hall that could accommodate 5,000 people, a five-star 2000-room hotel, Asia’s largest land art museum, an outdoor theater, hot springs, and facilities for skiing and snowboarding. Heiwa envisions forming a consortium with an international IR operator and local businesses with a combined initial investment of close to US$2 billion, and ultimately employing almost 20,000 people.

The IR plan was presented in person by Heiwa Corporation President Katsuya Minei to the mayor of Kitahiroshima city on Wednesday.

Thursday’s Japanese-language press release included the concept image featured above.

Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido is already crowded with competing IR proposals, this one in Kitahiroshima becoming the fourth after Tomakomai, Kushiro, and Rusutsu. The prefectural government of Hokkaido had earlier intimated that it would narrow down the various proposals to only one by the end of this year, but that intention now appears to have been shelved.

Bricks & Mortar IR Proposal Plan Pachinko