Universalist Mission to Japan.

The Universalist mission to Japan, the American denomination’s first attempt at a foreign missionary program, began in 1890 and continued until it was merged with a local Congregationalist program in 1940. The staff changed frequently, never grew beyond five or six missionaries, and was plagued in its later years by lack of interest and funding from its American home base. Nevertheless, it achieved much in terms of teaching and service, if less than initially expected in terms of conversion.

The first Universalist church in Japan, known as the Central Church, was built in 1890 on land purchased in Tokyo . The mission staff at that time consisted of George L. Perin and his wife; Universalist minister I. Wallace Cate, and Margaret C. Schouler . Perin left in 1893, and Schouler became ill and was forced to leave as well; the work was taken up by Clarence E. Rice and Rev. Edgar Leavitt, and, by 1894, Catherine M. Osborn . When Cate departed in 1897, Osborn was the only one who remained long enough to work with his replacement, Rev. Gideon Keirn .

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