Fukuoka Japan Temple

The Fukuoka Japan Temple is the 88th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Plans to build a temple in Fukuoka, Japan, were announced on May 7, 1998. It is the second temple in Japan, the first being dedicated in Tokyo in 1980.

Missionary work began in Japan in 1901, when Latter-day Saint missionaries Heber J. Grant, Horace S. Ensigh, Louis A. Kelsch, and Alma O. Taylor traveled to Tokyo. Missionaries worked in the area for more than twenty years, but when the mission had to be closed because of World War I there were still only 200 members. At the end of World War II when missionaries entered Japan again they found that these members had remained strong and were able to find others who wanted to join the gospel. In 1995 the Church published a new Japanese translation of the triple combination (Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants), which has been extremely beneficial in the missionary work. Missionary work in Japan is hard because many of the people are connected to different forms of religion: the same person can be married by a Shinto priest, follow Confucian morals, be buried in the Buddhist practice and have no desire to attach himself to a single religion. However, the work does go forward and today there are more than 114,000 members in Japan and about 1,000 missionaries.

A site dedication and groundbreaking ceremony for the Fukuoka Japan Temple were held on 20 March 1999. L. Lionel Kendrick, a member of the Seventy and President of the Asia North Area, presided at the ceremony. The site for the temple is 1.25 acres on the southern island of Kyushu. The temple has a single spire design and the exterior is finished with Empress White and Majestic Grey granite from China.

The temple was open to the public for tours June 1st through the 3rd, 2000. Those who toured the 10,700 square foot Mormon temple were able to see the Celestial room, two ordinance rooms, two sealing rooms, and baptistery and learn more about LDS beliefs associated with the temple. Getting the information to the public about the open house was a difficult task because many newspapers and other forms of media in Japan will not run anything they feel is promoting a religious group.

President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Fukuoka Japan Temple on 11 June 2000. The Fukuoka temple serves more than 7,700 members in Okinawa, Kyushu, Yamaguchi, and Hiroshima.