IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--The breezy, balmy sounds of Hawaii and the beautiful Hula Girls have finally come home to Spa Resort Hawaiians, a major hot spring resort here, to the delight of packed audiences.
IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--The breezy, balmy sounds of Hawaii and the beautiful Hula Girls have finally come home to Spa Resort Hawaiians, a major hot spring resort here, to the delight of packed audiences.
Spa Resort Hawaiians fully reopened Feb. 8 after almost one year of reconstruction work, prompted by the Great East Japan Earthquake of last March.
The dancing Hula Girls, the resort's main attraction, finally returned to their home stage, after five months of touring the country and the following four months appearing on a temporary stage.
At 10 a.m. on Feb. 8, the Hula Girls lined up and welcomed the audience members streaming through the main entrance of the main facility.
Wearing a flower in her hair, Ayaka Okawara, who joined the dancing troupe in 2009, was all smiles, but occasionally wiped away tears as she waved at and shook hands with people.
From the stage, she saw the fully packed audience on the second floor and felt bolstered by the difficulties of the past 11 months.
In May, the girls decided to go on a bus tour, to boost morale across the shell-shocked nation, and to let people know that Iwaki, 50 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, was still safe to visit.
When the tour began, Okawara, 21, was worried that performing "at such a (difficult) time might upset some people," she recalled.
She and four other members who joined the troupe in the same year were in the "lowest" rank of the 28 dancers, she said. On stage, the five members always danced near the end of the rows.
One thing a young dancer takes great pains in is finding the right place on stage while dancing with others.
Still, a dancer has to keep looking at the audience, never casting a sideways glance. Okawara had been making intense efforts not to make any mistakes and to do her part.
But on the tour, which sometimes involved fewer numbers of members on stage, she had to dance in a row, without any senior dancers to shield her.
Okawara wondered how her dancing looked to the audience, and the thought made her perform with more expression.
As faces in the audience, including those of people who had been affected by the disaster, softened and toothy smiles were seen, she felt encouraged and her confidence grew.
When the smile, clapping and music came together, her performance became naturally vibrant.
The bus tour ended, and Spa Resort Hawaiians partially reopened in October.
However, with reconstruction continuing at the facility that houses the stage, the Hula Girls had to use a temporary stage in a different facility.
Six new members--Okawara's juniors--made their debut the same month. Accordingly, Okawara's team had more opportunities to dance in the front row.
When she joined the Hula Girls, Okawara, who didn't have a dance background, had an inferiority complex.
"Without the experience of the performance tour, I could not have possibly danced in the front row," she said of her newfound confidence.
Okawara said she wants her juniors to experience and gain what she has acquired after the earthquake.