Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN OCT 2021 70 benefit from a superlative, world-class IR proposal that would reflect the city’s lifestyle, culture and characteristics for the world to see. Our dedication to design excellence, quality and craftmanship and our focus on combining art, design and architecture into our integrated resort proposal reflected Japan’s rich heritage, humanities and aesthetic. “With an eye to the future, this project would have created a new Yokohama, one that could be seen as the world’s top destination for entertainment, leisure, sports and MICE events for years to come.” In fact, Melco’s IR design saw sports as a key area of contribution to the city’s long-term growth. One of its major initiatives should its IR have become reality was to build a sports center within the complex following input from the company’s brand ambassador, tennis superstar Naomi Osaka. Naomi had suggested to the developer that it was important to provide a variety of sporting options for people because when she was growing up and when she trains now, she likes to play a whole range of different sports rather than just tennis. The sports center would have included a football ground that would have been a training ground for local teams, because they don’t have many suitable facilities. Amajor tennis organization in Japan would have also made the center their training ground. This was to be just one contribution by Melco to the Yokohama community, with the company having worked hard to connect with the local people since first announcing its “Yokohama First” strategy in September 2019. Its community initiatives have included an event called “Smart Summer” in Motomachi, Yokohama, JAPAN