IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--Just like 50 years ago, the magic of the hula is being counted on to save a resort in this community wracked by negative publicity from the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--Just like 50 years ago, the magic of the hula is being counted on to save a resort in this community wracked by negative publicity from the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
"Today, we have returned to Iwaki," the leader of a group of hula dancers, Yukari Maluhia, told a crowd at the partial reopening of Spa Resort Hawaiians on Oct. 1.
The crowd of about 10,000 roared their approval, as the resort was back in business, although facing tough times, along with the rest of the local tourism industry.
The hula dancers follow a long line of performers that go back 46 years, when the local community then faced the reality of a major coal mine closing. The daughters of coal miners learned the hula and toured the nation to publicize the new resort.
Kazuhiko Saito, the president of Joban Kosan Co., which operates the resort, said about the situation after the March 11 natural disasters and nuclear accident, "We face a crisis that is greater than even the coal mine closing."
To show people that Iwaki was still on the tourism map, Saito came up with the idea of having the hula dancers travel around Japan for performances.
The tour began on May 3 from an evacuation center in Iwaki. The group performed in 125 locations in 26 prefectures from the Tohoku region to Kyushu. The dancers even performed in South Korea.
Besides performances, the dancers also visited municipal mayors and travel agencies.
While the dancers were trying to drum up enthusiasm for the reopening of Spa Resort Hawaiians, the resort is bracing for some hard times.
Taking into consideration the effects from negative publicity over the Fukushima nuclear accident, company officials compiled a plan that foresaw only 25 percent of the number of visitors from last year for the remainder of 2011.
While about half of the rooms were booked on Oct. 1, current reservations mean the number of visitors will fall to below 20 percent of 2010. Even after the reopening of an indoor pool that is now being repaired, company officials only forecast about 30 percent of the hotel guests as last year for the period between January and March 2012.
Because the resort is about 50 kilometers from the Fukushima No. 1 plant, Saito said radiation levels indoors at the resort were at the same level as Tokyo.
However, between 70 to 80 percent of the visitors to the resort are families with children, a group that is most sensitive to possible radiation exposure.
A company official in charge of sales said the effects from the negative publicity over the Fukushima nuclear accident were much greater than expected.
Joban Kosan has already recorded about 6.6 billion yen ($85.9 million) in losses from the disaster and accident, including 4.2 billion yen spent on repairs.
With losses expected to further increase, the company will require an additional 10 billion yen in new loans. That would be an enormous burden on a company that only has annual sales of about 30 billion yen.
Although the company can seek compensation for damages from negative publicity from Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, company officials have not included any compensation figure into their management plan because of the possibility that actual payment may be delayed.
Other areas in Fukushima Prefecture are also suffering from a loss of tourists.
Aizuwakamatsu is known for the Byakkotai (White Tiger unit), a unit made up of teenage boys set up to defend Aizu domain and the ill-fated shogunate in the 1868 Boshin civil war. However, this year, there has been a 90 percent decline in students on school trips from outside Fukushima Prefecture. The number of visitors to a museum for famed bacteriologist Hideyo Noguchi (1876-1928), who was born in Fukushima Prefecture, has also declined by 62 percent.
An official with a Fukushima prefectural association of hotels and inns said, "There is no relationship to the distance from the nuclear plant. Just the name Fukushima Prefecture is turning people away."
In a normal year, about 8.7 million people spend a night at a hotel or inn. While half would usually come from outside of the prefecture, the official said there were few reservations for autumn and beyond.
There are 615 establishments in the association, but over the past six months, 17 have dropped out of the association either because of bankruptcy or because of a closing of the business.
A survey by the association found that on average, member companies expected a 50 percent decrease in sales over a one-year period from the Great East Japan Earthquake.
An official with Teikoku Databank Ltd. said, "If the effects of the negative publicity should be prolonged, there will be an increase in the number of bankruptcies and those companies that abandon their business."
Even amid the difficult times, there are some companies trying to resume operations.
Hoshino Resort Co. is known for turning around faltering inns. Company officials have decided to operate the Alts Snow Park and Resort in Bandai, Fukushima Prefecture, this winter. The resort is the biggest ski area in the Tohoku region.
While there was some consideration for suspending operations, a company official said they wanted to support jobs in the area.
Local governments are also providing support.