GGRAsia – RFP suitor Oshidori pledges US$200k for Nagasaki floods

RFP suitor Oshidori pledges US$200k for Nagasaki floods

Jul 20, 2020 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck

Hong Kong-listed Oshidori International Holdings Ltd has pledged a donation of US$200,000 to a non-profit social welfare organisation in Japan – “Akai Hane - Nagasaki Community Chest Association & Social Welfare Corporation” – for relief work in flood-struck Nagasaki prefecture, including Sasebo city.

Japan’s Kyushu region – which includes Nagasaki prefecture (pictured in a file photo) – suffered from torrential rain and flooding for about a week from July 3, according to local media reports. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet decided last week to use JPY2.2 billion (US$20.5 million) of public money to support the areas hit hardest by the adverse weather, Kyodo news agency reported.

Akai Hane will assist Oshidori International to allocate its donation to Sasebo city and Nagasaki prefecture, in order to help with natural disaster relief work, education, and general welfare, the Hong Kong firm said in a Friday statement. The donation was made through Kyushu Oshidori Children’s Foundation, a non-profit body established by Oshidori International in 2019.

“Oshidori believes that philanthropy is a vital part of the social responsibility of all corporate citizens. I hope that our donation will help all the affected families to have a speedy return to normal conditions,” said Oshidori International’s non-executive chairman Alex (Alejandro) Yemenidjian in prepared remarks included in the Friday release.

Oshidori International has previously confirmed to GGRAsia its intention to participate in the prefecture’s request-for-proposal (RFP) process regarding the local community’s tilt at having a casino resort there. Such facilities are known in Japan as integrated resorts (IRs).

Three resorts will be allowed nationally in a first phase of liberalisation. Each interested local authority must find a private-sector partner before making an application to the national government.

Nagasaki prefecture is looking to host an IR on a land plot at Sasebo city’s Huis Ten Bosch theme park, and is planning to launch the RFP process this summer.