Iwaki Spa Resort Hawai Onsen
- Location
- Iwaki, Fukushima, Japan
- Water type
- sodium chloride
- Temperature
- 40 °C
- pH
- 7.3
Water profile
Relaxing — deep, immediate muscle release.
Loaded with major ions — the essential minerals (Ca, Mg).
Dense, salty water — you float without effort.
Iwaki Spa Resort Hawai Onsen is the legendary bathing facility within Spa Resort Hawaiians in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, the most famous hot spring entertainment complex in Japan, originally opened in 1966 as Joban Hawaiian Center when the Joban coal mining company faced the collapse of the coal industry and reinvented its dormant underground hot water as the centerpiece of a Hawaii-themed entertainment resort featuring professional hula dancers, water slides, and tropical decor in the middle of a former coal mining community in Tohoku. The Hula Girls, as the professional Hawaiian dancers trained from mining families' daughters came to be known, performed their way into Japanese national consciousness through a celebrated 2006 film of the same name that dramatized the resort's improbable founding story and sparked a nationwide revival of interest in its performances. The naturally abundant and hot geothermal spring waters that once flooded the coal mine shafts now heat the resort's enormous domed swimming pools and outdoor bath areas, creating one of the most uniquely Japanese hot spring experiences in the country — where industrial heritage, tropical fantasy, and genuine thermal culture combine in Tohoku's most beloved and improbable resort destination.