Hokkaido’s prospects to win Japanese IR bid in doubt

Harumi Takahashi, the governor of Hokkaido Prefecture in Japan, has announced that she will not be contesting for a fifth term next spring. Her departure would land a serious blow to prospects the prefecture becoming an IR destination.

Her departure means that there will be a new governor in Sapporo next spring. Most likely it will be a contest between a conservative ruling party-backed candidate and a united opposition candidate, though no one has yet declared.

Pro-IR forces are thus losing the power of incumbency in a prefecture in which opposition parties have historically performed better in elections than they do at the national level.

Next spring, the unified local elections will include both the gubernatorial race and the assembly elections. Conservative forces will likely need to win both contests for the IR plans to go forward.