Nippon

J.C.F. wrote to tell us about a mistake in the answer to a question in the December 2017 Collector’s Gallery. We said “Nippon” was the English word for Japan, but it is the Japanese word for Japan. After the passage of the McKinley Tariff Act in 1890, the country of origin had to be marked on goods imported into the United States. Some manufacturers didn’t want to say Japan because at that time Japanese goods were of low quality. Instead, Nippon was used as the country of origin for goods imported from Japan from 1890 to 1921. From 1921 on, the U.S. required the word Japan. Nippon was sometimes used after 1921 as part of a company name.