THE ASAHI SHIMBUN – Moves are accelerating to bring casinos to Japan, but the economic benefits could be overshadowed by the social costs evident in other countries where gambling is legal. Shintaro Ishihara started the trend in 1999, when, as governor of Tokyo, he proposed establishing casinos in the fashionable Odaiba district of the capital. Hokkaido, the prefectures of Chiba, Osaka, Nagasaki and Okinawa, and the cities of Yokohama and Chiba have all earmarked budgets for casino-related studies this fiscal year, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey. A supra-partisan group of lawmakers in December submitted to the Diet a bill…