4 MAY 2012
To: Fukuoka KEN JIN KAI
FM: Walter Tachibana, President Fukushima Kenjin Kai
RE: TWO FREE MOVIE SHOWINGS ON 23 JUNE AT HAWAI’I JAPANESE CENTER
ALOHA, DEAR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES:
PLEASE ATTEND THESE 2 TOUCHING FILMS ON JUNE 23, SAT.
AT 2:00P.M., HJC WILL SHOW “FUKUSHIMA HULA GIRLS” (2011, 100 MIN.) This is a documentary after the March 11, 2011, EARTHQUAKE IN NORTHEAST JAPAN. Iwaki City on Fukushima’s south coast has the beautiful resort hotel and facilities called “SPA RESORT HAWAIIANS,” which is located 37 MILES SOUTH of the Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant that blew up. After the disasters, everyone, including hula dancers called “HULA GIRLS” at the Hawaiian theme park, has tried to overcome and re-build the resort for a first step of reconstruction for Fukushima. The story tells us how they faced everyday living with the energy problems and how they struggled until the re-opening of Spa Resort Hawaiians. For 4 months the girls devoted themselves to restoring the paradise and went on the nationwide tour with wishes to bring back smiles to Japan. Despite their own personal suffering from the disasters, the Hula Girls and resort employees always wore a smile on stage, spreading encouragement to victims in the wake of the earthquake.
You may recall from the 2006 smash hit film “Hula Girls” that the resort opened in 1966 as the Joban Hawaiian Center, a hot-spring resort, when the coal mining industry collapsed.
The resort, the first theme park in Japan, was hit severely by the Great East Japan Earthquake and closed temporarily. It served as home for scores of local people whose homes had been badly damaged or they were evacuated from the nuclear exclusion zone. And the management treated them as guests! When re-opening time was near, these locals moved out politely, making sure that the rooms they had used were as tidy as when they first moved in. Part of its operations resumed in October 2011 and on February 8, 2012, the entire resort was back in business. During the shutdown, the Hula Girls went on the nationwide tour for the first time in 46 years. Dubbed the “Hula Girls National Kizuna Caravan,” the girls began with a goodwill performance at an lwaki City evacuation shelter on May 3, 2011. Altogether they held 247 performances at 124 venues in 26 prefectures.
This documentary film was released last yeart (2011 ). It has Jake Shimakuburo in charge of music and the narrator is Yu Aoi, who acted as the main hula dancer Kimiko in the 2006 film “Hula Girls.” You must come!!!
THE OTHER TOUCHING FILM IS “WANKO, THE STORY OF ME, MY FAMILY AND MY DOG,” WHICH STARTS AT 10 A.M. ON JUNE 23. In August 2000, a devastating volcanic eruption ravaged the island of Miyake-jima in the lzu islands south of Tokyo. This is the story of friendship and the indelible bond between a dog, a boy and his family. A miraculous story based on true events of a family torn apart by an unimaginable natural disaster.
Eleven years later, 2011, set in the beautiful, natural environment of Miyake-jima, this story is retold through the eyes of a boy and his dog. It reminds us of the importance of emotional connection, family bonds, love of the homeland, and the will to live: Come and see and enoy!!!
Dr. Masafumi Honda would like a headcount by June 15. You may call me, Walter. at 959-9374 and leave a message with your name and club.
06.23.2012 Hawaii Japanese Center – 2 movies
