President Takashi Ueno of the Yokohama Chamber of Commerce and Industry has expressed his desire that the candidate elected in the Yokohama mayoral elections be someone who supports the city’s IR bid.
At a regular press conference this week, Chairman Ueno explained that fighting COVID-19 was currently the most pressing issue but that Yokohama also needed to focus on its long-term economic prosperity.
“I would like a candidate who will embrace proactive economic policies that will return Yokohama’s economy to how it was before COVID-19,” he said.
“I think it would be a bright outlook for Yokohama’s economy if that person actively supported an IR [bid].
“The declining birthrate and aging population make achieving an IR an important element in revitalization of the Yokohama economy.”
The Yokohama mayoral elections will be held on 29 August and the IR bid is expected to be a key issue.
In November 2019, financial groups in Yokohama prefecture, led by the Yokohama Chamber of Commerce & Industry, launched the Integrated Resort (IR) Yokohama Promotion Council. The council is made up of nine groups including the Kanagawa Keizai Doyukai (Committee for Economic Development), Kanagawa Tourism Association, the Yokohama Financial Trade Association and Kanagawa-ken Employer’s Association, with over 15,000 company and group participants.
In January 2020, the council co-sponsored the 1st [Yokohama] Integrated Resort Industry Exhibition at Pacifico Yokohama. Many domestic and foreign IR operators and suppliers interested in a Yokohama IR held exhibitions and 10,000 people visited over the two days.
This was just months before the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic began sweeping the world and only a few days before a large cruise ship carrying infected guests landed at Yokohama port.
Delays to Japan’s IR process resulting from the pandemic have fueled growing uncertainty and more vocal opposition given the state of the world, however amidst this it is significant that the top representatives of economic organizations promoting an IR bid are expressing their opinions on the mayoral election with an eye on the post-pandemic world.
While they have been silent for a long time, perhaps such words can have a meaningful impact of their own.
Notably though, neither the ruling party in support nor the opposition party in opposition have ventured candidates for Yokohama’s mayoral elections and it remains unknown what direction they will take.
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