The "Casino-Deciding Yokohama Citizens' Meeting" succeeded in getting 62,500 resident signatures needed to propose voting questions to the city council. In fact, the city has certified more than 200,000 signatures.
The group believes that Yokohamaians are strongly opposed to commercial gambling. The referendum effort was designed to persuade lawmakers to consider public opposition to the casino resort.
But the public will not be heard. The city council easily voted down the proposed referendum at its meeting last Friday.
The 86-member committee, the city's legislature, is controlled by the LDP. The LDP is the party of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who continues his predecessor Shinzo Abe's desire to make the rising sun country a more attractive leisure and tourist destination.
a referendum vote
Like the United States, Japanese referendums are not a legislative tool. Instead, they are just the popular way to speak out about efforts pending legislation.
When a referendum has the necessary public support through a referendum, the city council approves the proposal and does not need to raise the issue before the voters. And even if a referendum does come to the polls, the results have no legal impact. In other words, if the casino question returns with the majority of the vote, the city could continue its plan to conduct IR in the area.
Yokohama Mayor Fumiko Hayashi initially said he would support a valid referendum and urged parliament to move to polling stations. But Yokohama Mayor Fumiko Hayashi, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, reversed course last week and said the referendum would only frustrate the city's goal of obtaining one of the upcoming IR permits.
Instead of letting the referendum go ahead, the Yokohama City Council voted to enter the RFP phase and start asking for business plans from interested companies. Melco Resort is a major candidate for the development of Yokohama casinos.
Once Yokohama selects a partner, the city and Kanagawa Prefecture will bid to the central government to win one of three commercial IR licenses.
Tokyo Impact
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike announced in December that he was considering entering the casino pool in Koike, Japan's largest city. That may have made Hayashi reconsider her position to support the referendum. 파워볼사이트
Japan's basic policy on commercial gambling authorizes three IR properties. The LDP wants to use the resorts to boost tourism across the country, which is why casinos are unlikely to be allowed in both Tokyo and Yokohama. The downtown areas of the two neighboring cities are less than 20 miles apart.
The Japanese government has not officially announced that it will participate in the IR yet. However, if it does, casino operators will rush in. The capital city, which has more than 8.6 million residents, is the political and economic center of Japan.
