Kengo Oishi (pictured in a file photo), governor of Japan’s Nagasaki prefecture, says he “does not understand” and was “surprised” by the decision of the national authorities announced on Wednesday not to approve the metropolis’ Integrated Resort (IR) District Development Plan for a tourism complex with casino.
“An IR could serve the prefecture as a catalyst for regional revitalisation and contribute to the promotion of the regional economy of the entire Kyushu region,” said the Nagasaki governor in a statement, referring to Nagasaki’s hinterland region on Japan’s main island, Honshu.
Evidence a scheme could promote local economic regeneration was identified by the national government as an important element for candidate locations. So far only Osaka has been approved to host an IR in Japan, based on the latter’s plan submitted in April 2022, the same month as Nagasaki’s application. No other location had submitted an IR proposal to the national government.
The Wednesday pronouncement on Nagasaki’s scheme issued via the Japan Tourism Agency – under the country’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism – had said Nagasaki’s proposal “did not meet the required standards” set by Japan’s national basic policy on IRs.
The tourism agency had observed: “It is difficult to say that there is sufficient evidence to support the certainty of financing” for the proposed Nagasaki IR.
The agency also stated that pledge letters submitted as part of the proposal by potential investors – or letters regarding potential loans – were “not legally binding or similar”.
In addition, the parties linked to the proposal had “changed significantly” since the time of application, mentioned the Japan Tourism Agency announcement.
Nagasaki prefecture’s IR Promotion Division had identified the private-sector partners for an IR as “Casinos Austria International Japan” and “Kyushu Resorts Japan and advisors”.
The Nagasaki governor’s Wednesday statement said that “the prefecture and Kyushu Resorts sincerely responded” to requests for information by the Japan Tourism Agency.
The statement added the prefecture would “look into the announcement, and strongly ask the [national] government to give us an explanation”.
The local authority also said it would do its “best to explain the result to the public”.
A figure of JPY438.3 billion (US$3.10 billion currently) has been mentioned for the fundraising for the Nagasaki scheme.
The project was due to be on land adjacent to the Huis Ten Bosch theme park at Sasebo, within the prefecture.
Nagasaki prefecture had said that the “financial arrangers” for the project included Credit Suisse AG, CBRE, and Cantor Fitzgerald Securities Japan Co Ltd.
