Tokio is a rural location and former rural community in Adams County, in the

Palouse The Palouse ( ) is a distinct geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of north central Idaho, southeastern Washington, and, by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, primaril ...

region of eastern Washington. It is located along

Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...

northeast of

Ritzville Ritzville () is a city in Adams County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,673 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Adams County. The city is part of the Othello, WA Micropolitan Area, which comprises all of Adams County, ...

.Japanese Vignettes
p. 16 (1939) ("There is a Tokio in the northeastern corner of Adams County in eastern Washington")

History

In 1888,

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, whic ...

railway officials named the railroad stop at this location "Iona." It was changed to Tracy in 1905, and then Tokio in 1906.Washington Place Names
Tacoma Public Library In the early 20th century the community had a rural school; its enrollment in 1917-18 was 10 pupils.Washington High School Directory 1917-18
p. 171Tokio school, two photos, circa 1907-08
WashingtonRuralHeritage.org Essentially the small community of that period has since dissipated.Turner, Stev
Amber Waves and Undertow
p. 29 (2009) ("the freeways charting this new age can't leave all history behind: they have to acknowledge significant crossroads, routes names for municipal destinations, even though those towns have withered or vanished. Accordingly, they are intersections on the Adams stretch of Interstate 90 marked for Schrag and Tokio, sites now only of grain elevators.") Several wheat fields in Tokio and neighboring areas were destroyed by a fire on July 31, 1998, which killed one farmer. His wheat crop was harvested by neighbors in a community celebration of life. The freeway exit is adjacent to a

weigh station A weigh station is a checkpoint along a highway to inspect vehicular weights and safety compliance criteria. Usually, trucks and commercial vehicles are subject to the inspection. Weigh stations are equipped with truck scales, some of which are ...

, which inspired the name of a

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

band. The weigh station has a

truck stop A truck stop, known as a service station in the United Kingdom, and a travel center by major chains in the United States, is a commercial facility which provides refueling, rest (parking), and often ready-made food and other services to motori ...

and restaurant, along with a

recreational cannabis Recreational drug use indicates the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime by modifying the perceptions and emotions of the user. When a ...

store that opened in 2016. The truck stop was also used as a filming location for ''The Promise'', an independent movie released in 2004.

References

Ghost towns in Washington (state) Geography of Adams County, Washington {{AdamsCountyWA-geo-stub