Daiwa LifeNext Co., a Tokyo-based company belonging to Daiwa House Group, plans to build a new hotel in a district designated as an industrial reconstruction base in Fukushima Prefecture's town of Futaba.
　The hotel will be built in the town's Nakano district and will include one of the largest conference rooms on the Pacific coast area of the prefecture.
　The town and Daiwa LifeNext are planning to revitalize the local economy and increase the number of people coming to the region by using the hotel to draw international conferences, bring tourists from Japan and abroad, and host study tours run by educational organizations and companies. The hotel is planned to open in fiscal 2025.

　大和ハウスグループの大和ライフネクスト（東京都）は、双葉町の中野地区復興産業拠点に浜通り最大級の会議室を備えたカンファレンスホテルを整備する。町と同社はホテルを活用し国際会議の誘致をはじめ、教育機関や企業など各種団体の研修旅行、インバウンド（訪日客）を含む観光客の受け入れを進め、浜通りの交流人口の拡大と地域経済の活性化を図る。２０２５年度までの開業を目指す。

　The hotel will be north of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster Memorial Museum in Futaba and west of a new park which will also be completed by the prefecture in fiscal 2025 on the border of Namie and Futaba towns. Based on the prefecture's idea of "hope tourism," which involves learning about the Great East Japan Earthquake by visiting places hit by the disaster, the hotel wants to bring in families and foreign tourists while coordinating with surrounding facilities to increase the number of people visiting the area.

　ホテルは東日本大震災・原子力災害伝承館の北、２５年度に完成する県復興祈念公園（浪江町、双葉町）の西に隣接する。被災地を巡り、学びながら旅行する県の「ホープツーリズム」を踏まえ、インバウンドや家族向けの宿泊需要の受け皿となり、周辺施設と併せて交流人口の拡大を進める。

　The five-story hotel will have a total floor space of about 6,000 square meters. The largest conference room will be more than 400 square meters and will be able to accommodate more than 300 people. Under the plan, there will be 100 guest rooms as well as restaurants and shops with local food, a spa, and a library with books about areas hit by the disasters. A subsidy from the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry will be used to pay for construction costs, which will amount to several billion yen. The hotel is expected to create jobs for more than 30 local people. An expansion of the hotel is under consideration, depending on demand after the opening.

　ホテルは５階建てで、延べ床面積は約６０００平方メートル。会議室は広さ最大4００平方メートル超で、最大３００人超を収容できる。客室は１００室を予定。地元産品を取り扱うレストランやショップ、被災地の学びにつながる書籍を置くライブラリー、スパなども設ける。建築費は数十億円規模で、経済産業省の補助金を活用する。地元雇用は３０人以上を見込み、開業後のニーズによっては増築も検討する。

　The hotel has been tentatively named Futatabi Futaba Fukushima. The word "futatabi" means "once again" or "repeat." The name embraces a wish that the hotel will bring many revivals, reunions and revisits to Futaba. The hotel's exterior has been designed to express gentle sea waves.

　ホテル名は「ＦＵＴＡＴＡＢＩ　ＦＵＴＡＢＡ　ＦＵＫＵＳＨＩＭＡ（ふたたびふたばふくしま）」（仮称）。再生、再会、再訪など、双葉にたくさんの「ふたたび」をもたらすホテルになることを願い名付けた。外観は海の波の柔らかさをイメージした。

　 In October, Daiwa LifeNext Co. President Keitaro Takebayashi and Mayor Shiro Izawa of Futaba met in Tokyo to exchange letters of agreement on the business location plan.
　"I'd like to offer Futaba new forms of security and safety, as well as a great future," Takebayashi said.
　The Nakano district was devastated by the tsunami that hit the prefecture immediately after the 2011 earthquake.
　"You can never develop and build [a hotel] without consideration and respect for the place," Takebayashi said. "I hope this hotel will not only be a place for leisurely activities, but also a place of study and rest where people can quietly absorb themselves in their own thoughts."

　１０月に都内で企業立地協定の締結式が行われ、伊沢史朗町長と竹林桂太朗社長が協定書を取り交わした。竹林社長は「双葉に新しい安心と安全と、豊かな未来を提供したい」と述べた。中野地区は２０１１年の震災の津波で壊滅的被害を受けており「その土地への配慮や尊敬をなくして整備はできない。レジャーだけでなく、静かに思いにはせるような学びと癒やしの場にしたい」と語った。

　In August last year, the evacuation order was lifted from the town's Specified Reconstruction and Revitalization Base, and people started living there for the first time in 11 years. The town hopes that the opening of the hotel will help further speed up the reconstruction efforts that started later than any other places.
　"I'm sure it will become a place where we can let the world know about the reconstruction of Fukushima, the reality of life in Futaba and how its reconstruction is going specifically," Izawa said, holding high hopes for the project.

（　Translated by The Japan News　）

　双葉町は昨年８月に特定復興再生拠点区域（復興拠点）で避難指示が解除され、住民生活が１１年ぶりに再開した。町はホテルの開業を、最後発となった復興のさらなる加速につなげたい考えで、伊沢町長は「双葉のありのままの姿、復興に挑戦する姿など、福島の復興を世界に発信できる場所になる」と期待を寄せた。

　【　２０２３年１１月１日付・福島民友新聞掲載　】