Japan Press Weekly

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2013 June 5 - 11 [TOKYO]

Tokyo governor wants gambling legalized

Tokyo Governor Inose Naoki on June 3 in his policy speech said that he will “consider constructing a casino-resort complex” in order to attract more tourists.

As gambling is currently prohibited by law, Inose expressed his intention to request the national government to make the necessary legal adjustments as soon as possible so a gambling casino can be built.

Inose’s predecessor, Ishihara Shintaro, presented the idea to build a casino just after his inauguration. The former governor even had a model casino build and displayed in the Tokyo metropolitan government office building in 2002 as a promotion event.

Japanese Communist Party Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly members have opposed the concept from the beginning because it will have a bad moral effect upon children and will invariably involve the intrusion criminal syndicates.

Inose announced the casino project in concert with Prime Minister Abe Shinzo who also plans to incorporate casino tourism into a new economic growth strategy to be released by the end of June. The Abe Cabinet reportedly aims to introduce a special economic zone in which casinos will be allowed to be built in resort facilities along with hotels and conference halls.


Related past articles
> Ban on casino gambling should be lifted: Tokyo governor [March 15, 2013]
> Construction of casinos in disaster-hit region is impermissible: JCP Daimon [December 7, 2011]