Osaka - 2025 World Expo and Casino Plan

Due to the influence of pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics 2020 was postponed by one year to 2021.  The President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach is confident that the Tokyo Olympics will begin on July 23 as scheduled.  However, there will need some special arrangements such as limiting the number of audiences or even playing behind closed doors in the consideration of pandemic.  Opinions of whether the Tokyo Olympics can be held successfully vary because of the uncertainty.  Canceling the Games, however would be a major blow to Japan's pride and finances.  In such a situation, the developments of Osaka on Yumeshima is important and become another emphasises of Japan in next few years.

Yumeshima, which is part of Konohana-Ku, is one of the largest three artificial islands.  It was planned as the athlete village for the 2008 Olympic Games.  After Beijing won the bid of holding the Olympic, the southern end of Yumeshima is positioned as a logistics centre with most of the area unoccupied.  Governor Ichirō Matsui of Osaka Prefecture committed to promoting Yumeshima as the site of an integrated resort (IR) and the 2025 World Expo. 

Source: Invest Osaka

Yumeshima IR is planned to have hotels, theatres, commercial facilities and international conference halls with the casino as the core development of this integrated facility.  The economic potential of high-spending gamblers may bring Osaka a huge economic return.  As the site of World Expo 2025 as well as an integrated resort, it attracts numerous tourists with a huge income from tickets, catering and accommodation. 

With the theme of ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives’, Osaka will focus on introducing their cutting-edge technology idea to the world around the field of life sciences, agriculture and food etc.  It is expected that 166 countries and companies will exhibit with the total number of visitors exceeding 28 million.

Same as the tremendous economic impact brought by the World Expo 1970 towards Japan, the World Expo 2025 with IR plan is expected to create an economic effect of 260 billion yen a year before the start of the Expo, and 950 billion yen in 2025.  In the following 25 years, the total economic effect can reach up to 2610 billion yen.   

To support the large volume of visitors brings by 2025 World Expo and IR, 15 major Osaka Metro stations will be refurbished along with a new metro station for Yumeshima connecting with Osaka Metro Chūō Line, Sakurajima Line and Keihan Nakanoshima Line.

Source: Asahi Shimbun Digital 

Along with a new metro station, Yumeshima Station Tower will be built as a landmark.  It is scheduled to have an observatory with 360-degree views on the top floor.  Hotels, office and commercial facilities are also the intended use of this tower.  Considering the characteristic of Yumeshima, it will be a complex building focused on hotels and commercial facilities.  It is estimated that it is about 55 floors with an expected height reaching 275 meters, second only to the Abeno Harukas in the Kansai area.

Source: Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

From both the idea of Casino and 2025 World Expo, Osaka will be Japan’s hottest tourist city with the support of the traffic development.  For far-sighted investors, investing in apartments, hotels or guest houses in Osaka will be a wise choice to have higher returns bring by the flow of tourists and foreign capital.