October 6, 2013
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2013 October 2 - 8 [POLITICS]
More local gov’ts want to invite casinos |
In an action program it published in June, the Ministerial Council on the Promotion of Japan as a Tourism-Oriented Country confirmed that it will conduct studies necessary to remove the ban on casino-centered tourist facilities.
This was immediately positively responded to by the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), which on June 17 released a statement encouraging the government to “swiftly reach a conclusion” toward legalization of casino businesses.
On September 18, Hosoda Hiroyuki, the Liberal Democratic Party’s acting secretary-general who heads a parliamentarians’ league working for casino legalization, announced that his league will submit a bill to lift the ban on casinos in the upcoming extraordinary Diet session.
What they are trying to promote is the construction of casino-resort complexes that include hotels, shopping centers, theaters, and convention halls. So far, about 20 local governments have come up with their plans to invite such businesses.
Tokyo government officials have been obsessed with a plan to build casinos ever since former Governor Ishihara Shintaro proposed opening them in Tokyo’s Odaiba district in 1999. Osaka sees casinos as the center of its vision for a “metropolitan Osaka”. Chiba Governor Morita Kensaku wants to build casinos at Narita Airport.
Stressing positive economic effects, all these plans downplay the negative effects that legalized gambling could bring, such as gambling addictions, the inevitable presence of organized crime, and harmful influences on juveniles.
Casino advocates are not concerned about casino’s negative impacts or try to hide them in order to have the public focus only on a “tourism boom” and “economic effects”, said non-fiction writer Wakamiya Ken.
Casino gambling would prevent the host cities from developing healthy industries and would ultimately negatively affect the local economy, he warned.
Past related articles:
> JCP opposes Tokyo’s plan to build casino (June 6, 2013)
> Tokyo governor wants gambling legalized [June 5, 2013]
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