Miyazaki, capital of Miyazaki Prefecture with 397,000 residents, sits on eastern Kyushu coast facing Pacific Ocean, earning designation as "Sunshine Capital of Japan" through warm subtropical climate attracting resort development during 1960s honeymoon boom. The prefecture gained fame as popular domestic honeymoon destination with beach resorts, golf courses, and tropical atmosphere creating romantic escapes before international travel became accessible to average Japanese. Seagaia resort complex exemplifies this era—massive hotel, convention center, golf courses, and former Ocean Dome indoor beach representing ambitious leisure development. The resort industry declined as overseas honeymoons to Hawaii and Guam eclipsed domestic destinations, leaving retro Showa-era nostalgia and economic adjustment.

Contemporary Miyazaki promotes outdoor sports tourism emphasizing surfing—consistent Pacific waves create Japan's premier surfing conditions attracting domestic and international surfers. Golf tourism continues exploiting mild climate enabling year-round play, while scenic coastal drives and historic shrines provide sightseeing. The economy depends on tourism, agriculture producing mangoes and sweet potatoes, livestock farming, and manufacturing. Challenges include demographic decline, resort industry's past-peak status, competition from international destinations, and typhoon vulnerability from Pacific storms. Yet Miyazaki maintains appeal through surfing culture, mild climate, laid-back atmosphere contrasting urban intensity, and mythology associations—legendary sites connected to Japanese creation myths attract spiritual tourism. The prefecture represents provincial resort development's rise and adaptation, blending 1960s leisure nostalgia with contemporary sports tourism targeting younger markets.