JAPAN-JEDDO Becomes Plain Old JEDDO After 1941

The Pennsylvania mining town of JAPAN-JEDDO was officially so named since the early days of Japan's Meiji-era (1868-1912), until 1941, when the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the subsequent start of war in the Pacific caused the city fathers to drop JAPAN from their name.

They had their own Post Office and Zip Code until the nearby town of FREELAND took over postal deliveries.

However, the village is still called JAPAN, and JAPAN-JEDO by many of the old-timers there.

Also, some business addresses and municipal references to the locale continue to label it as JAPAN, the VILLAGE OF JAPAN, and JAPAN-JEDDO.

The town was named for TOKYO, JAPAN --- "Jeddo" being one of a few classic renderings of "Edo", the name of Japan's capital before they changed it to Tokyo.

SO WHAT'S THIS ALL ABOUT ?

Back in the early days of Meiji-era Japan, they needed lots of COAL for their factories, and for stocking the COAL YARDS that supplied the growing needs of foreign and domestic businesses and shipping lines.

Japan became a major trading partner and buyer of the coal that came out of the Anthracite mines in this area of Pennsylvania. In fact, this clean burning, lowest-sulfur-content coal became well known as JEDDO COAL.

The local Pennsylvanians decided to name the town in honor of their main trading port --- TOKYO.

However, "Tokyo" was still a "new" name to most folks at that time, and they preferred sticking with the more common name for the city used in most of the Western world --- JEDDO.

Whenever I'm in the Pocono Mountains, I know that Okinawa is just to far away to visit...but at least I can make it TOKYO....er, JEDDO and back for a nice day trip through the mountains and fall foliage of Pennsylvania ~ !

GOOGLING JAPAN AND JEDDO IN THE USA

Until recently, GOGGLE EARTH showed the town as just plain JAPAN, and would zoom right into it if you searched for "JAPAN, USA". This has since been "corrected", and GOGGLE EARTH only responds to "JAPAN, JEDDO".

Interestingly, if you type just plain "JAPAN" into GOGGLE MAPS, you will be prompted for JAPAN JEDDO, PA, and clicking on that prompt will take you right to this old Pennsylvania town.

By the way, there are seven (7) different towns in the USA now named JEDDO !

I will leave the history and story-telling for those other JEDDOs to other Flickr members who might live in those mysterious places.

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RANDOM SOBA www.flickriver.com/photos/24443965@N08/random/

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Taken on: October 4, 2010

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Sets appears in: • NOT JAPAN • JEDDO, PA.

Groups appears in: • Coal Regions of Pennsylvania

Camera: Panasonic DMC-ZS7, f/5.6, 1/800 sec, 4.7mm, ISO 80 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Panasonic DMC-ZS7
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/800)
Focal Length:	4.7mm
ISO:	80
Exposure Bias:	-0.33 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Saturation:	High
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Ver.1.0
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