Good guess, but no, Epiphone is a Korean company. However, this companies guitars were actually made in the Epiphone factory in Korea for one year. That was in '96 or '97. You can tell those by the inked on serial number instead of the stamped version.
The company that made this guitar was purchased by Gibson specifically for the purpose of breaking into the Japanese market. I bet Gibson never thought Americans would be going out of their way to import the Japanese manufactured version of their design instead of the US version
