Japan parliament nods casino commission nominees

Nov 29, 2019 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck  

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Both houses in Japan’s parliament (pictured), a body also known as the Diet, approved on Friday the national government’s nomination of five individuals to steer the soon-to-be established casino management commission. The information was gathered by GGRAsia’s Japan correspondent.

The commission – to be an independent agency under Japan’s Cabinet Office – is due to be inaugurated on January 7, 2020, according to an ordinance reportedly adopted by the government in October. The commission will deal with security matters, probity and background checks. It will also oversee integrated resort (IR) operators in Japan, as well as advise on measures to counter gambling addiction.

Michio Kitamura, a 67-year-old former high prosecutor general of Fukuoka, will be chairman, according to Japan’s government proposal.

Other nominees for the casino management commission were: Hiroyuki Ujikane, former chief of the National Tax Agency’s Nagoya Regional Taxation Bureau; Michiko Watari, a psychiatrist; Noriko Endo, specially-appointed professor at the graduate school of Keio University; and Tateshi Higuchi, former superintendent general of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

The Diet members of, respectively, Japan’s governing coalition, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Komeito, supported the nominations, as did lawmakers from the Japan Restoration Party, according to GGRAsia’s Japan correspondent.

The people chosen for the casino management commission will each serve a five-year term in office, according to October’s ordinance.

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