A Japanese media organisation – citing people familiar with the matter – says a new location within Kanagawa prefecture, has been mentioned as a potential site for an integrated resort (IR) with casino in any fresh round of applications. It is the site of the current Oppama Plant of Nissan Motor Co Ltd, at Yokosuka, south of the prefectural capital, Yokohama, reported Bungeishunju Ltd.
The piece stated: “The former Oppama factory site of Nissan Motor Co Ltd has suddenly emerged as an option.”
On July 15, Nissan said it would end vehicle production at Oppama by the end of fiscal year 2027, and transfer operations to Nissan Motor Kyushu Co Ltd in Fukuoka prefecture.
In October 2021, Yokohama had abolished its own IR promotion office.
In June this year, a Japanese government official had said the opening of a new round of IR hosting applications was “not far off”. The only IR approved for the country so far is the JPY1.27-trillion (US$8.61-billion currently) MGM Osaka, due to open in 2030.
Bungeishunju also said in a Saturday article that number of major communities in Japan – including Tokyo, Hokkaido, Aichi, and Nagasaki – have all said ‘yes’ to the principle of bidding to host an IR in any fresh round of applications.
The media outlet said those places had responded in the affirmative to a survey in November 2024, by the Japan Tourism Agency, a body under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
The survey details had not been publicised by the authorities, said the report, as reviewed by GGRAsia’s Japan correspondent.
In November last year Nagasaki prefecture’s governor, Kengo Oishi, had confirmed receiving a survey document from the authorities about the IR topic.
“Some government official has said that a final decision on where the IRs should be,” once a second round of applications had been launched and concluded, “is scheduled to be made at the end of 2027,” added the article, without identifying the source.
Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost prefecture, has had a number of business-sector meetings recently, discussing the IR topic. The prefecture had decided in 2019 not to put itself forward as a candidate for the first round of applications.
According to the Bungeishunju, Aichi prefecture “has shown interest in having an IR on the artificial island of Chubu Centrair International Airport,” at Nagoya, but the story added that “a major obstacle is the height restrictions” applicable at the site.
The report added: “Nagasaki prefecture, which was not approved in the previous round, is concerned that the site owner, Huis Ten Bosch, has been acquired by Hong Kong capital.”
A piece of land adjacent to Huis Ten Bosch, a Dutch-themed tourist park at Sasebo within Nagasaki prefecture, had been earmarked for a Nagasaki IR in a 2019 agreement between the prefecture and Huis Ten Bosch’s then owners.
In August 2022, PAG, a Hong Kong-based private asset manager for institutional investors, acquired Huis Ten Bosch Co Ltd for a reported US$720 million.
AloJapan.com