One less name in the frame in Japan.
HOKKAIDO Governor Naomichi Suzuki’s decision to drop out of the Japan IR race removes one more local government from contention, but also represents the collapse of the strongest IR initiative outside of the Kansai and Kanto regions, the regional IR which probably would have produced the highest financial returns.
Moreover, the Tomakomai city government had launched one of the nation’s first local government RFIs for the “Hokkaido White IR” in July 2017 and was in many ways the earliest IR mover, along with Osaka. It had already succeeded in attracting strong interest from many overseas IR operators.
