Trego's Mountain Ear

As a small boy, I heard tales about a Japanese industrial city that had been named Usa, so that products made in that city could be sold as “made in usa.”  Later, studying demography at MSU, I visited the library, checked the files, and learned that the industrial powerhouse named Usa had a population of about 70,000.  That knowledge got me to questioning some of the things grownups had taught me.  Still, I kept an interest in Usa.

This week I saw an aerial photograph taken of Usa.  Somehow, it looks like the sort of area that a kid raised in Trego would like:

Snopes says the whole story about “made in Usa” isn’t correct: 

“In fact, the Japanese city of Usa (on the island of Kyushu) was not created by renaming an existing town; it was called Usa long before World War II. As well, nearly every country that imports goods requires them to be marked with the name of their country of origin, not a town or city”

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/made-in-usa/

A little more research shows that, in Japan, Usa is best known for being the hometown of Sumo wrestler Futabayama Sadaji, the 35th ranked in his class.  Since I don’t follow Sumo, I have no idea why that ranking merits a museum.

Still it remains a good story about bad information – and a beautiful piece of scenery.