Spa Resort Hawaiians 3.07

, located in the city of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, is a resort and theme park in Japan. It opened on January 15, 1966 as the Joban Hawaiian Center, becoming the first in the country.The resort was an outgrowth of the mining industry. The modern coal mining in the Joban coal field was started on the exposed areas of the coal field near the foot of the Abukuma mountains in 1883. By 1944 the Joban Mine had become Japan's largest mine due, in no small part, to the use of forced labour by Allied Prisoners of War.The Joban Tanko continued to flourish throughout the 1950s but as Japan's economy shifted from being powered by coal to oil in the 1960s, the owners realized that the mine's useful life was limited. Yutaka Nakamura, the vice president, was determined to extend the mine's life somehow, and hit upon the idea of using the area's hot springs, an inconvenience to the mines, to open a resort. He selected a Hawaiian theme.One of the Resort's most well-known features is its dance troupe. Rather than inviting an outside troupe to perform, the company decided to create its own, and initially trained 18 employees' daughters. In the very close-knit mining community, entire families would work at the Resort. Nakamura intentionally kept the hotel small at the beginning, so the local ryokan would benefit from the increased business, and purchased as much as possible from local suppliers.