Inside Asian Gaming

IAG AUG 2021年8月 亞博匯 96 JAPAN recommendation of the LDP, Komeito and Rengo Kanagawa. This time – her fourth attempt – the 75-year-old’s main supporting party, the LDP, has stated it will not be able to provide official support due to the number of terms she has already served and her advanced age. Public discussion around a Yokohama IR bid started in 2012. This coincided with the second Shinzo Abe administration when there were proactive discussions about an IR concept for Japan. Hayashi’s stance was that an IR was vital to Yokohama’s sustainability. In 2016 she said, “I think it could be necessary for Yokohama’s future, sustainable growth, so I am greatly considering an IR with a casino.” In preparation for the August 2017 election, she said at a regular meeting, “I haven’t made any decision at this point whether to go for a casino bid or not,” and later, in March, she added, “We need scientific research and to continue keeping an eye on the national situation to make a decision about an IR.” In her campaign promise for her third election in 2017, she vowed to “consider an IRbid.”Afterwinning that election, she stated, “A Yokohama [IR bid] is a blank slate,” explaining that by the expression she meant there was no movement in either direction. However, it was mistakenly interpreted by some local Japanese media as meaning she had given up on the idea. During her third term from 2017 to 2018, Mayor Hayashi gave this “blank slate” answer every time she was asked about an IR. However, she explained that being, “a ‘blank slate’ means that I have not Yokohama Mayor Fumiko Hayashi The LDP's Hachiro Okonogi 橫濱市長林文子 自民黨的小此木八郎