A Japanese lawmaker who has been a member of the IR Diet Members’ caucus, a bipartisan grouping of MPs supportive of the policy of having integrated resorts (IRs) each with a casino, has been given a key job in the cabinet of Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s first female prime minister.
Yasushi Kaneko was appointed on Tuesday as the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. He is a member of the Japanese parliament, the Diet, in its lower chamber, the House of Representatives, and is of the new premier’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
The ministry Mr Kaneko now heads is tasked with overseeing the Japan Tourism Agency, which itself coordinates applications for casino resorts in the country.
According to information reviewed by GGRAsia, during the LDP-led administrations in the period from December 2012 up to Mr Kaneko’s appointment, the post of Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism had been variously held by representatives of the LDP’s former coalition partner Komeito, a Bhuddist-influenced political grouping.
Ms Takaichi runs a minority government, amid some parliamentary electoral losses for her party under the previous LDP prime minister Shigeru Ishiba.
On Monday, the LDP and the Japan Innovation Party, a pro-IR political grouping, signed an agreement to form a coalition government.
The Japan Innovation Party, a smaller right-leaning party also known as Ishin no Kai, is headed by Hirofumi Yoshimura, who serves as governor of Osaka prefecture, the first place in Japan to be building an IR with casino, namely MGM Osaka, due to open in 2030.
The Japanese national authorities are said to be considering launching a new round of applications for local governments hoping to host a casino resort.
