Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JUL 2021年7月 亞博匯 64 JAPAN A round two hours by train from Osaka followed by a short taxi ride, the final steps across a sun-drenched bridge into Wakayama Marina City feel like walking into another country. At 65 hectares in size, this is the candidate site for Wakayama’s integrated resort should it succeed in its planned national government bid alongside recently selected operator partner, Clairvest Neem Ventures. It is also the most developed site of any of the nation’s four candidate IR sites – the others being Nagasaki’s Huis Ten Bosch, Yokohama’s Yamashita Pier and Osaka’s Yumeshima Island. In the center of Wakayama Marina City is the yellowish Southern European Wakayama Marina City Hotel, which neighbors popular theme park Porto Europe and the Kuroshiro Market, dealing in local seafood. It is a complex area that also features hot springs, a fishing pier park and the largest marina in Western Japan. Some might say it already has the makings of an IR, minus the casino. Pre-COVID, there were around 2.5million visitors to the island annually. SITE UNSEEN Wakayama Governor Yoshinobu Nisaka’s confidence in the candidate site likely stems from the infrastructure already in place on Marina Island. “Being complete for 25 years already, Wakayama is the only location where the land is completely finished,” he said during a recent press conference. Should Wakayama win approval from the national government next year, andproceedwithdevelopment, the IRwould reside on an areameasuring 21 hectares on the south side of the island. Currently the site is