Daiwa House to close its 72-tenant Rinku mall across from Kansai Airport after 19 years

Daiwa House Realty Management said in a release dated 24 July that it will close Rinku Pleasure Town SEACLE, the 72-tenant shopping complex it operates on reclaimed land facing Kansai International Airport in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, on 31 October — bringing to an end just over 19 years of trading since the centre opened in December 2007. The company attributed the closure to the expiry of its land lease.

The company said some tenants plan to continue operating past the October closure — without specifying which, or where — and that the centre will run sales events and other programming in the run-up to its final day. Rinku Pleasure Town SEACLE currently trades daily from 10:00 to 20:00, with some stores keeping different hours, the release said.

The closure is a supply-side story more than a demand one: SEACLE isn't failing on trade, it is losing its site to a land contract that was always going to run out. But losing 72 stores' worth of retail space directly opposite one of Kansai's two international gateways still matters for the corridor, which has absorbed a wave of inbound-driven investment since the pandemic reopened Japan's borders. Whoever controls the site next — Daiwa House owns the underlying land through its industrial arm — will decide whether Rinku's travel-retail footprint keeps its current shape or is redrawn from scratch, and displaced tenants now have five months to find a fallback before the doors close.