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, which included work in Tōhoku (Sendai and Morioka), continued until 1924, but were abandoned until after 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 a part of the Sendai Mission. 

On 01 Jul 2019 the Sendai Mission was dissolved and split basically in half - the Morioka and Aomori Districts were shifted to the Sapporo Mission, and Sendai Stake and Koriyama District became part of the newly re-created Tōkyō North Mission. Tōkyō North Mission's headquarters were in Sendai until late 2021, when the new temple annex building was completed in Tōkyō. Both Tōkyō mission offices are now located in that new annex building.

On 01 Jul 2024, 50 years to the day after it was first established, Japan Sendai was re-established as a separate mission after five years of being dissolved and split. The Sendai mission home in the Yagiyama area of Sendai used from Dec 1976 to 2021 was sold by the Church during the years of non-use. A transitional mission office is currently located in a 10-story office building near the Kamisugi meetinghouse/Sendai Stake house. The Mission Leaders and assistants are currently housed in apartments just southeast (back side) of the Sendai eki (station).

Mission Names and Boundaries History Over the years, border shifts, mission dissolutions, additions and consolidations have affected all missions in Japan. During most of the Teruya Jidai (1974-1977) there were six missions. From 1984 to 1995 there were ten missions in Japan; currently there are seven. These realignments are reflected in the chart below. Feel free to address questions or corrections using a 'Contact Us' entry.