Spa Resort Hawaiians

Spa Resort Hawaiians, located in the city of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, is a resort and theme park in Japan. It opened on January 15, 1966 as the Joban Hawaiian Center, becoming the first in the country.

The resort was an outgrowth of the mining industry. 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 labour 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, the owners realized that the mine's useful life was limited.