Religion: Kunshi

"I am only a plodder of average talents and plain common sense," the missionary once said of himself. "If I have been remarkable for anything, it has been for perseverance." Last week in Yokohama, a monument was raised to the remarkable plodder who was one of the first to introduce Japan to Western and Christian ideas.

James Curtis Hepburn of Milton, Pa. disappointed his parents by not becoming a minister. Instead, he studied medicine and got an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1836. But after three years of private practice, he decided to become...

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