Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAN 2021年1月 亞博匯 36 COVER STORY the world’s largest IR companies, who would salivate at the opportunity to own an IR at the epicenter of such a massive population base. After Tokyo, the next most likely place to raise their hand is Aichi prefecture. Governor Hideaki Omura has previously expressed a preference for a site at Chubu Centrair International Airport, which services Japan’s third-largest city, Nagoya. The prefecture has previously held an RFC process and has a budget set aside for developmental work, which is a positive sign. Much like Yokohama, Chiba is within the Tokyo metropolitan area, albeit on the other side of the bay. The widely proposed site is Makuhari New City, just under an hour by train from the heart of Tokyo. However, upcoming Mayoral and Gubernatorial elections may interfere. Until the aforementioned withdrawal from the race, Hokkaido ’s candidate area was the Uenae district of Tomakomai city, located near Shinchitose Airport, the main airport servicing Hokkaido and its capital Sapporo. A large 1,000-hectare plot of land was earmarked, but HokkaidoGovernorNaomichi Suzuki determined, “There is a high possibility that the candidate location serves as a habitat for rare animals and with the limited time allotted it would be impossible to take the appropriate environmental considerations.” Could recent pandemic delays be a blessing in disguise for Tomakomai city? The one takeaway regarding Tokyo, Aichi, Chiba and Hokkaido is this – time is very tight indeed. To comply with the new schedule recently announced by the national government, they would have to declare their intentions extremely soon. Dutch-style theme park Huis Ten Bosch has long been the selected site for an IR development in Nagasaki. 荷蘭風格的主題公園豪斯登堡一直是IR開發的選定之地。