Ruling party may scrap Yokohama casino plan

In Japan, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party appears headed toward backing a candidate for Yokohama mayor who will campaign on a platform of opposing the current Yokohama IR development plans.

Reports emerged this weekend that National Public Safety Commission chairman Hachiro Okonogi, a member of the Suga Cabinet, will soon resign his national government post to run in the Yokohama mayoral race as the ruling party’s candidate.

The big twist is that he will apparently be running on a policy that is negative toward the current IR development plans. The political advantage of jettisoning the IR is clear. The project is deeply unpopular with the public and it is set to become the defining issue of the mayoral race.

The ruling party may have judged that if they stayed the course and ran as the unabashedly pro-IR force, they would essentially be handing over power in one of the nation’s most important cities to the opposition.

And Yokohama is not just any major city, it is also the home district of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. Losing his own city to the opposition a m

Source: Asia Gaming Brief