# "Usa, Japan" - a scam to get Americans to buy Japanese stuff? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 24, 2005, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550 "2005-11-24T05:12:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/1 "2005-11-24T05:12:56Z")
Thirty-some years ago I was told - by someone I’ve always found credible - that the Japanese had a town or city that they’d renamed “Usa.” It became a big manufacturing hub. Products made there would be (truthfully if misleadingly) stamped “MADE IN USA” so that gullible, buy-American consumers would fork over their hard-earned cash, thinking the products were American-made. Provably true or false? A protectionist myth? Enlighten me. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/2 "2005-11-24T05:14:33Z")
Not true. > **[Was a Town in Japan Renamed 'Usa' So Its Products Could Be Labeled 'Made in...](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/made-in-usa/)** > > Did Japan rename a town 'Usa' so it could identify its products as 'Made in USA'? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/3 "2005-11-24T05:14:39Z")
[Urban Legend - False](http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/usa.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/4 "2005-11-24T05:16:13Z")
[No](http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/usa.asp). There is a Japanese town called Usa, but the story about product labelling is false. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/5 "2005-11-24T05:17:24Z")
So, has anyone heard of this website called Snopes? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/6 "2005-11-24T05:37:17Z")
Has anyone else noticed how many of these urban legend questions are the result of garbage spread by “credible” people? Does it make anyone else wonder how much other bunk they spread under the guise of credibility? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/7 "2005-11-24T09:18:58Z")
Lurking at the bottom of this sorry tale are a couple of grains of grievously abused truth, here they are: -Emeralds are brittle and prone to breakage; the octagonal ‘emerald cut’ is designed to offer some protection from accidental breakage. -Aquamarines (another form of the same mineral) and other beryls are sometimes heat-treated to enhance their colour. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/8 "2005-11-24T09:21:09Z")
Damn! Wrong thread. Please ignore the above. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/9 "2005-11-24T09:47:32Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Damn! Wrong thread. Please ignore the above. I was really trying to make your post fit into the context of the discussion here, muling it over quite thoroughly. I see I should not have bothered. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/10 "2005-11-24T19:56:42Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > So, has anyone heard of this website called Snopes? 😉 Yeah, but I think it’s a urban legend. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/11 "2005-11-25T00:13:59Z")
TimeWinder writes: \> Yeah, but I think it’s a urban legend. No, my cousin’s wife’s best friend’s coworker’s college roommate’s neighbor swears that it exists. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/12 "2005-11-25T16:38:52Z")
I’ve heard that Snopes is based in Rio. ---
**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/13 "2005-11-25T16:53:54Z")
> [@William V.](#): > > Thirty-some years ago I was told - by someone I’ve always found credible - that the Japanese had a town or city that they’d renamed “Usa.” It became a big manufacturing hub. Products made there would be (truthfully if misleadingly) stamped “MADE IN USA” so that gullible, buy-American consumers would fork over their hard-earned cash, thinking the products were American-made. > > Provably true or false? A protectionist myth? Enlighten me. It may be of interest to you to know that the “USA” story you refer to was common 'knowledge back in the very early thirties--------l-o-o-ong before ww2. It indeed was,or so we were given to believe,a ploy to make sales of shoddy Japanese products[mostly of tin toys or poor copies of american products]more saleable.[sic] EZ ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/14 "2005-11-25T17:27:15Z")
> [@](#): > > It indeed was,or so we were given to believe,a ploy to make sales of shoddy Japanese products[mostly of tin toys or poor copies of american products]more saleable.[sic] Sorry, but since this is GQ, can we get a cite for that? ---
**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/15 "2005-11-25T18:52:26Z")
> [@Squee](#): > > Sorry, but since this is GQ, can we get a cite for that? Also sorry---------but I have no cite—only my razor-like memory. Suggest you seek out some old mossy- horns who may be in a local old-agers pasture and ask them about it. Or perhaps your grandparents, may the Good Lord grant that they still be with you. If y’still want a cite y’ll have y’start diggin’-------it’s called homework! Unless you’re a dedicated upperclass student,in which case it’s known as “research”. Happy diggin’—‘n’ may you hit a glory hole! EZ ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/16 "2005-11-25T19:27:03Z")
> [@Squee](#): > > Sorry, but since this is GQ, can we get a cite for that? Note that **Ezstrete** ’s statement was not that the story was true, but that it was “common knowledge” in a period forty years prior to the anecdote in the OP. In other words, the UL is older than thirty years. To that I will add a corroborating voice. In the war diary published as Fighting Lady, (which may or may not have been the only book with that title as I read it in the 1960s and do not know whether the 1986 book of that title was a re-issue or simply a new book about the USS Yorktown), the author described bombing raids against Usa in which the aircrews made the same comments. That book, being a collection of diary entries, presented _current_ opinions from 1944 and 1945. ---
**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/17 "2005-11-25T20:02:12Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Note that **Ezstrete** ’s statement was not that the story was true, but that it was “common knowledge” in a period forty years prior to the anecdote in the OP. > > In other words, the UL is older than thirty years. > > To that I will add a corroborating voice. In the war diary published as Fighting Lady, (which may or may not have been the only book with that title as I read it in the 1960s and do not know whether the 1986 book of that title was a re-issue or simply a new book about the USS Yorktown), the author described bombing raids against Usa in which the aircrews made the same comments. That book, being a collection of diary entries, presented _current_ opinions from 1944 and 1945. hTe cavalry has"rode" again-----TNX ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/18 "2005-11-25T23:30:03Z")
When I was a little kid in the early sixties, I heard people read the label on the back of a Japanese product as “Made in Gyp-land”. For those unfamiliar with the term “gyp”, it means to rip someone off. I believe its from the word “Gypsy”. The group of people originally from India who roamed (and still roam to some extent) in Europe ripping people off. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-japan-a-scam-to-get-americans-to-buy-japanese-stuff/332550/19 "2005-11-26T00:15:40Z")
I’ve accepted the UL of Usa, Japan for most of my life. I haven’t thought of it for years, but I did believe it. So, another cherished childhood memory has been destroyed in the name of fighting ignorance. I distinctly remember having toys that were stamped “Made in occupied Japan” and “Made in occupied Germany.” Don’t try to destroy that memory. Please.