Ed Bowers, a key MGM Resorts International representative in Japan, was among eight senior business executives making a 20-minute courtesy call on Thursday with Minoru Kihara (pictured centre), Chief Cabinet Secretary to the current Japanese government.
Mr Bowers (pictured third from left) is president of global development for MGM Resorts and president and chief executive of MGM Resorts Japan.
The MGM Resorts group is building – along with Japan’s Orix Corp and other local partners – the JPY1.51-trillion (US$9.34-billion currently) MGM Osaka casino resort, due to open at the end of 2030. Supporting non-gaming facilities are planned for next door to the complex, under a local-government blueprint.
Mr Bowers’ attendance at the Thursday courtesy meeting was under the auspices of the U.S.-Japan Business Council during a visit it was making to Japan.
Per a release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kihara welcomed the delegation’s visit to Japan, adding that progress on economic cooperation between the U.S. and Japan was underpinned by the business communities of both sides.
The two sides exchanged views on measures to enhance Japan-U.S. economic cooperation with a focus on economic security, as well as on ways to further promote and strengthen investment in Japan and the United States, the document added.
MGM Resorts’ casino-resort investment in Osaka is being framed by the company and by the Osaka city and prefectural authorities as a major economic stimulus for the Osaka metropolis and its hinterland.
Successive Japanese officials holding the Chief Cabinet Secretary role have had involvement in Japan’s casino-liberalisation push.
Earlier this year, Japan’s national government, led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, reaffirmed its commitment to further integrated resort (IR) development as part of its long-term tourism strategy, following a cabinet decision on the country’s latest “Tourism Nation Promotion Basic Plan”.
The next IR application window of the national government is between May 6, 2027 and November 5, 2027.
