At first when listening to the song, I was wondering about where is “Joban Coal Mine” could have been.
So I did some digging…
I then stumbled upon the Joban Coal Mine Coal Storage in Iwaki, Japan. Iwaki is a city located in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan.
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 labor 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, owners realized that the mine’s useful life was coming to a close. Yutaka Nakamura, the vice president, was determined to extend the mine’s life somehow, and ended upon the idea of using the area’s hot springs, an inconvenience to the mines, to open a resort. He selected a Hawaiian theme.
So, the first ever water resort to open in Japan was due to the closure of a coal mine. We learn something new everyday, huh?
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