October 15, 2025

As the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai came to an end, the Japanese Communist Party Osaka Prefectural Committee on October 14 issued a statement calling for the cancellation of the planned casino construction.

The JCP statement pointed out that the holding of the Expo on an artificial island Yumeshima, which was developed on top of landfill waste in Osaka Bay with the ultimate aim of attracting casino businesses, has caused various problems in terms of the environment, safety, and ballooning costs. The party demanded that the plan to further develop Yumeshima Island for the purpose of building casino-centric integrated resort (IR) facilities be cancelled.

The statement referred to the fact that a significant and dangerous concentration of methane gas was detected at the expo venue and that 40,000 visitors were stranded at the venue due to the precautionary metro service suspension. The statement criticized the expo organizers for not taking the expo’s safety concerns seriously.

The JCP in its document pointed out that as the number of domestic and overseas visitors fell short of the target, the economic ripple effect in the Kansai region was weak. The party stated that while Osaka Governor Yoshimura Hirofumi boasted that the Osaka expo ended in the black, the actual balance of revenue and expenditure, including security costs and venue construction expenses, resulted in a massive deficit.

The JCP stated that it is unacceptable to leave unaddressed the issue of unpaid construction costs for building some of the foreign pavilions, and urged that the national and Osaka governments and the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition take measures to resolve the issue. The JCP expressed its determination to work hard to settle the remaining issues and have the casino construction project scrapped.

Past related articles:
> Osaka Pref., City, and Expo Assn. treat unpaid construction costs as someone else’s problem [ August 13, 2025]
> Explosible concentration of gas detected during Expo 2025 rehearsal [April 7, 2025]