TOKYO » The sixth Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting opened in Tokyo with a decidedly Hawaiian flavor Thursday night as dancers from the Fukushima Hula Girls troupe took center stage.

The dancers, who work at Spa Resort Hawaiians in Iwaki City, were the official good will ambassadors for the summit, which capped off Saturday in Okinawa. Held every three years since 1997, the meeting aims to build close cooperative relationships and strengthen the bond of friendship between Japan and Pacific Island countries. This year’s meeting gathered leaders from Japan and Pacific islands, plus ministerial representatives from Australia, New Zealand and, for the first time, the United States.

The resilient dancers have become a symbol to many in Japan of the country’s recovery. They are still dancing and spreading Japan’s own brand of aloha despite an 11-month closure at their resort, which sustained serious damage during one of the many aftershocks of the March 11, 2011, earthquake.

Many dancers from the 33-member troupe were personally hard-hit by the quake, its aftershocks, the tsunami and the tragedy at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, said Takashi Wakamatsu, deputy director of sales at Joban Kosan Co., the resort’s owner.

"The home of one of the girls was swept away by the tsunami and another had to relocate because her home was in the (nuclear) affected zone," Wakamatsu said.

Before the resort’s February reopening, the troupe went on its first national tour since 1966, when Spa Resort Hawaiians turned an ailing mining town into Japan’s first theme park. The dancers, who were featured in the critically acclaimed 2006 movie "Hula Girls," performed 247 times in 125 places during their good will tour, Wakamatsu said.

"They are artists and we didn’t want them to lose their dancing skills," Wakamatsu said. "Also, we wanted them to have jobs and to remind people that Spa Resort Hawaiians planned to reopen and would need their support."

Initially dancers were concerned that they would not be able to give a good performance because of their situation, said Yukari Kato, the 29-year-old leader of the troupe. But as their tour moved from the evacuation centers in Iwaki City to other stops in Japan, dancers discovered that performing empowered audiences and improved their own morale, said Kato, who received some training at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie.

"After the earthquake, I came to realize that the power of hula is to heal people — all types of people," Kato said.

To that end, the dancers are representative of the growing ties between Japan, the Pacific Island countries and the United States, Wakamatsu said.

"They are named for Hawaii, but they do dances from throughout Polynesia," he said. "So, not only are they a symbol of Japan’s recovery, but they are generally a symbol of Pacific Islanders."

Spa Resort Hawaiians had initially hoped to host PALM6 at its resort, but lost the bid to Okinawa, Wakamatsu said.

"Performing at PALM was a way of raising awareness of our Hula Girls and showing our support," he said. "We still hope to host a future summit."

It was also a way for Kato to end her career at Spa Resort Hawaiians on a high.

"This is my last event," she said after a performance at the Pacific Festa, which was one of the activities in Tokyo leading up to the summit. "I am retiring. Maybe I’ll visit Hawaii again."