History of the Church in Japan LDS Missionaries first arrived in Japan in 1901, with Heber J. Grant as the first mission president.  Missionary efforts continued until 1925, and included missionary work in Sendai and Morioka, but were abandoned until post-World War II. LDS missionaries have been serving in Japan continuously since 1948. A chart of the ever-changing History of LDS Japan Mission Names and Area Boundaries appears below.

Sendai Mission History and Boundaries The Sendai Mission was established 01 July 1974 when the Japan East Mission, which was headquartered in Sapporo and had only existed for four years, was split into two missions. The island of Hokkaidō became the Sapporo Mission and the six-prefecture Tōhoku (Northeast) region of the island of Honshū became the Sendai Mission, including the southeastern-most city of Iwaki, which had been part of the 'Japan' Mission, headquartered in Tōkyō prior to this date.

The Tōhoku-only Sendai Mission boundaries remained consistent for 45 years except for the 12 years from 2001 to 2013, when branches in Niigata prefecture were briefly a part of the Sendai Mission. 

Effective 01 Jul 2019, 45 years after its creation, the Sendai Mission was dissolved and split basically in half - the northernmost Aomori, Iwate and Akita prefectures (Morioka and Aomori Districts) became part of the Sapporo Mission, and southernmost Miyagi, Yamagata and Fukushima prefectures (Sendai Stake and Koriyama District) became part of the newly re-created Tōkyō North Mission. Tōkyō North Mission doesn't include the Tōkyō Stake, which was shifted into the new boundaries of Tōkyō South Mission. On some Sendai Mission Facebook groups, some have been calling the new mission the "north of Tōkyō" mission. 

Tōkyō North Mission's headquarters was in Sendai until late 2021, when a new mission home was completed as part of the new building complex next to the temple in Tokyo. President Sekiguchi, who served as Sendai's Mission president for two years, presided over the newly (re) created Tōkyō North Mission for his third year of service. He served past his normal 30 Jun 2020 release date until 22 Sep 2020, when Tōkyō South's Pres. Esplin's responsibilities were expanding to include Tōkyō North until incoming president Dale S. Cook and his wife Kathleen A. Cook are allowed to enter Japan, currently prohibited due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mission Names and Boundaries History Over the years, border shifts, mission dissolutions, additions and consolidations have affected all missions in Japan. From 1984 to 1995 there were ten missions in Japan; now there are six. These realignments are reflected in the chart below. Feel free to address questions or corrections using a 'Contact Us' entry.