It's a surprising tearjerker, with good acting and strong characters you would expect who originated in the Iwaki coal mine, but it whitewashes the fact that much of that mine's wealth was as a result of WW2 slave labor. This is a problem the Japanese seem to have in confronting their history. Unfortunately, it wasn't only Japanese who suffered in the coal mines!

Viewed on DVD. An entertaining bit of fluff based (more or less) on a real event: the unlikely founding of a Hawaiian-themed resort spa on the cold northern coast in Fukushima Prefecture's coal country! The temperature in Iwaki (the story's location) on average is about half that of Hawaii which may account (at least in part) for the spa's continuing success. Direction and acting are uneven. Comedy scenes seem to be the director's forte (there are many hilarious moments in the first half of the movie), but not drama (dramatic scenes are too drawn out and hammy especially in the second half of the film). Adult actors (and adults trying to act as juveniles) deliver the best performances. Interiors (especially the practice dance studio and performance hall) are unrealistically amusing: this may be a prosperous coal town, but it's not that prosperous! (Interiors were shot at the resort spa.) Subtitles are essential (the dialog is loaded with slang and delivered at Tokyo street speed), but tend to be a bit longish. Cinematography (16:9 wide screen) and sound are fine (the apparent remix to elicit surround-sound is especially well done). Even the production unit's name is Kawaii: "Black Diamond" (aka "coal"). WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

Between 1966 and 1970 I was stationed at Misawa AFB in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. I had a car and traveled a lot. Eventually went to the Joban Hawaiian Center at the suggestion of a Japanese friend and fell in love with the place. I made the JHC my main spot for R&R after that and even scheduled several trips there for my coworkers.This movie is NOT a comedy, in my mind, but a true life story about overcoming tragedy. I went to the JHC very often and the dancers and staff got to know me well. Between performances I often drank coke with the Hula dancers and on one visit I was asked to help a male-female duet with the pronunciation of the words for "The Hawaiian Wedding Song". I watch this movie every chance I get and it always brings tears to my eyes. The Joban Hawaiian center is one of the reasons I eventually spent 30 years teaching English in Japan (returned to the U.S. in Feb. 2014).

This is one of my favorite movie. It contains nice relationships among people in country side, a little bit comedy yet heart warming.Girls living in Hukushima prefecture including Kumiko, played by Yu Aoi decided to work as a dancer to save people's live there. Those days around Showa40 year, their life style was going to be changed, and it meant people in Kumiko's village were going to lose their work. Instead of that, they try to built a big entertainer, "Resort Hawaiians". That's why they try hard to be a fine dancers to work there as "Hula girls"!! However, it's not easy to manage it through some problems. Villager are used to work as coal miner, even through they have some dead in mine, and also it's hard for Kumiko and her mates to master Hula which they had not know at all. Can they dance? Can they save people? What's become of them? I believe you can enjoy not only story, but also one of Japanese dialects.This is what I, Japanese student says, so you can be sure to enjoy interesting Japanese. It obviously shows Japanese dialect! Do not miss it!