aside from the economic impact of its various military facilities, yokosuka is also an industrial city, with factories operated by nissan motors and its affiliated subsidiaries employing thousands of local residents. the nissan leaf, nissan cube, and nissan juke models are assembled in the in yokosuka. the factory began operations in 1961 where the nissan bluebird was originally built. every may, there is a festival celebrating japanese curry, which draws 50,000 attendees each year. the plant is adjacent to nissan's research and development center, the oppama proving ground and the oppama wharf, from which nissan ships vehicles made at oppama and nissan’s other two japanese vehicle assembly plants to other regions of japan and overseas.