Japan, Missouri

38°14′21″N 91°18′22″W[1] Japan (pronounced /ˈdʒeɪˌpæn/ JAY-pan or /ˈdʒeɪpən/ JAY-pun[2]) is an unincorporated community in southwest Franklin County, in the U.S. state of Missouri.[1] The community is located on Missouri Route AE 7.5 mile west-northwest of Sullivan.[3]

History

A post office called Japan was established in 1860, and remained in operation until 1908.[4] The community was named after a local Roman Catholic Church, the Church of the Holy Martyrs of Japan.[2] The name was almost changed in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor due to anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States.[5]

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Japan, Missouri
2. Ramsay, Robert L. (1973). Our Storehouse of Missouri Place Names. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. p. 35. ISBN 9780826205865 – via Google Books. It turned out that few of its inhabitants were aware of its connection with the enemy country, for down there the name is customarily pronounced as 'JAY-pan' or 'JAY-puhn,' (ˈʤeˌpæn or ˈʤepən) with the accent on the first syllable. … The village was really named, not for the country at all, but for the old Catholic Church there which has been in existence for more than a century. The 'Church of the Holy Martyrs of Japan,' to give its title in full, was named for the twenty-six priests and lay brothers of Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese blood who were crucified for their faith on Feb. 5, 1597, in the great persecution that almost wiped out Japanese Christianity for the next three hundred years.
3. Missouri Atlas & Gazetteer, DeLorme, 1st ed., 1998, p. 47 ISBN 0899332242
4. "Franklin County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
5. "Franklin County Place Names, 1928–1945 (archived)". The State Historical Society of Missouri. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved September 30, 2016.