If You Build It, They Will Come

MGM’s Osaka integrated resort project will be a catalyst for international hires and could spur change in immigration policy.

In April 2025, two big things happened on a small island in Osaka Bay. One was the opening of Expo 2025, Osaka, Kansai, an international exhibition expected to draw 28 million people over six months. The other was a groundbreaking ceremony for a $10 billion integrated resort (IR) that will host Japan’s first official casino and employ thousands. It was an unlikely new chapter for Yumeshima, a man-made island fashioned from waste, but it represents Japan’s confidence that it can overcome its demographic crisis and diversify its workforce to take on large projects.

Dreaming Big in a Shrinking Country

Births in Japan continue to set record lows, stoking fears of social collapse. Based on the aging population and record-low fertility rate, one demographer has even predicted that in about 700 years, Japan will have only one child left. Yet in 2024, the workforce reached 67.8 million—the highest level since 1953—bolstered by increased employment of women and elderly people. However, many of these are part-time roles, so total hours worked have not significantly grown. The national unemployment rate is only 2.5 percent, reflecting worker shortages.

This poses a challenge for MGM Osaka, an IR project that has been 15 years in the making since the idea for such resorts in Japan was officially floated more than 25 years ago. Politics dragged out the decision-making process, and the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the application process for hopeful municipalities. The Japanese government finally approved Osaka as the first IR host city in 2023, nine years after Yumeshima, or “Dream Island,” was proposed as the site.

When completed in 2030, MGM Osaka will have two hotels, some 2,500 rooms, a 3,500-seat theater, a convention center spread across 730,000 square feet, as well as shops and restaurants. The casino alone will house some 470 tables for poker and baccarat, in addition to 6,400 electronic tables for slots and other games.

To serve the nearly 20 million visitors expected to visit the resort each year, MGM Osaka will require an army of more than 15,000 workers, including dealers, pit bosses, and casino managers—jobs that don’t officially exist in Japan.

Navigating Japan’s Tightening Labor Market

“While our first priority is to hire locally and develop talent in the Kansai region, there are some highly specialized roles, such as experienced casino dealers, that may require us to look internationally,” said Jiro Kawakami, vice president and chief of staff at MGM Resorts Japan, one of the major shareholders of MGM Osaka. “In those cases, we bring in individuals who can share knowledge and help train and mentor others, with the long-term goal of building sustainable local capabilities.”

Navigating Japan’s regulatory framework for foreign labor, including visa regulations, can be complex—particularly for service-sector roles, explained Kawakami, who also serves as ACCJ vice president for Kansai. He adds that integration programs will be important to help international hires succeed in Japan’s unique business and social environment. On the domestic front, MGM will collaborate with local partners to train and upskill talent as they become familiar with large-scale integrated resort operations. 

The hospitality and tourism industries in Japan often use on-the-job training programs to develop employees, but there is a growing move to create and implement tourism-focused degree programs at accredited universities in Japan, Kawakami added. 

“Over the years, the Government of Japan has done a tremendous job of promoting tourism as a key industry,” he noted. “Going forward, the government, together with the private sector, should focus on making the hospitality and tourism industries more attractive to workers. Post-Covid, the focus has been on long hours and low wages. However, the industry is strong at promoting merit-based development opportunities vs. other industries, as well as diversity and inclusion initiatives.”

The casino project is large enough to serve as a catalyst for change in Japan’s overall employment practices. MGM Resorts Japan and Orix Corporation each hold a 40 percent stake in Osaka IR, with the remainder owned by local investors, including prominent brands such as Panasonic, Kansai Electric, and JR West. There are proposals to further develop the area with additional attractions, such as a water and amusement park, shopping centers, and possibly a Formula 1 racing circuit. These plans aim to leverage the infrastructure and global attention garnered by Expo 2025 to establish Yumeshima as a premier destination for both domestic and international visitors.

A Must: Overseas Workers

Some travelers to Japan decide to work here. In October 2024, the country had a record-high 2.3 million foreign workers, up 12.4 percent from a year earlier. According to a projection by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the country will need at least 6.88 million foreign workers by 2040 to meet its growth targets.

Currently, industries seeing strong demand for international hires include IT, fintech, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and manufacturing—especially high-tech and automotive—according to Andrew Sipus, managing director of executive search at specialized recruitment agency Robert Half Japan. Employers are looking for technology and digital skills, financial expertise, multinational leadership and project management, as well as language and culture skills.

Sipus agrees that the Japanese government should focus on key areas for recruiting. He recommends streamlining visa and immigration procedures, especially for highly skilled professionals and their families, and investing in cross-cultural training and integration programs—not just for foreigners, but for Japanese employers and teams, too. Japan should also incentivize innovation and global hiring through tax breaks or grants for companies that build diverse teams, support infrastructure and living conditions that attract and retain international talent, and revise labor laws to support more flexible working styles, which are essential in attracting global professionals.

“Japan’s aging and shrinking population poses a fundamental challenge to sustained economic growth,” said Sipus. “Diversifying the workforce—across gender, nationality, and age—is not just a matter of inclusion; it’s a strategic imperative. Diverse teams are better equipped to adapt, innovate, and respond to the needs of global markets. Without embracing workforce diversity, Japan risks losing its edge in key industries and missing out on future growth opportunities.”