By Kumis Kumis
There are streets called Jalan Nissan Norin (Nissan Norin
Street), Jalan Kuhara (Kuhara Street), Jalan Dr Yamamoto (Dr Yamamoto Street)
and Jalan Kubota (Kubota Street) at Tawau, Sabah. People may wonder why there
is a road named after a Japanese tycoon and a medical Doctor (a well-respected
employee of Kuhara Estate). It was actually a tribute to Kuhara Estate (Nissan
Norin) and Kubota Estate contributions to the development of Tawau before the
second world war.
In 1868, the Japanese Government implement the Meiji
Restoration and the Open-Door Policy. Several Japanese Conglomerates and rich
individuals invested substantially in Tawau in the mid-1910s due to an economic
and rubber boom in Southeast Asia.
Kuhara Estate (Nissan Norin) of the Nissan Konzern and
Kubota Estate of the Mitsubishi Group were among two of the most successful
conglomerates. This Japanese company worked very hard to developed the
agricultural resources before the second world war and their contribution was
enormous.
In 1929, The Japanese economic enterprise and influence in
Tawau flourish with significant economic activity and one government employee
has said that "Tawau was a Japanese Town" and "Tawau owes its
prosperity almost entirely to agriculture".
In view of the above, we wish to share this short and simple
history of Kuhara Estate and Kubota Estate in a chronological order for posterity.
Jalan Nissan Norin
Jalan Kuhara 
Jalan Dr Yamamoto
KUHARA ESTATE (NISSAN NORIN)
Kuhara Mining Company Limited
Fusanosuke Kuhara
Fusanosuke Kuhara, a very prominent Japanese industrialist,
an entrepreneur, founder of Hitachi, politician and cabinet minister in the
pre-war Empire of Japan.
On the 12th July 1869, Kuhara was born in Hagi, Yamaguchi
Prefecture into a family of sake brewers. His brother was the founder of Nippon
Suisan Kaisha and his uncle Fujita Densaburō was the founder of the Fujita
Zaibatsu.
In 1885, Kuhara studied at the Tokyo Commercial School (the
predecessor of Hitotsubashi University) and went on to graduate from Keio
University. After graduation, he joined the Morimura-gumi, but on the
recommendation of ex-Chōshū politicians Inoue Kaoru, he joined his uncle’s
company, the Fujita-gumi.
In 1891, Kuhara was assigned management of the Kosaka mine
in Kosaka, Akita, one of the largest leads, copper and zinc mines in Japan. He
introduced new technologies and made the mine very profitable.
In 1903, he left the Fujita-gumi.
In 1905, Kuhara acquired the Akazawa Copper Mine in Ibaraki
Prefecture, renaming it the Hitachi Copper Mine and established Kuhara Mining
Company Limited in December 1905
In 1910, Kuhara established Hitachi Seisakusho.
In 1912, Kuhara merging his operations into Kuhara Kōgyō.
In 1914, The mine became the second largest producer of
copper in Japan through mechanization and improved production techniques.
Yoshisuke Aikawa (Gisuke Ayukawa)
In 1914-1918, During World War I, Kuhara expanded his
operations into a vast array of enterprises, ranging from shipbuilding to
fertilizer production, petrochemical, life insurance, trading and shipping,
creating the Kuhara Zaibatsu. However, the overextended company experienced
severe financial difficulties in the post-war depression, and Kuhara turned to
his brother-in-law, Yoshisuke Aikawa, who created a holding company called
Nihon Sangyō Kabushiki Kaisha (Nippon Industrial Compnay), or Nissan for short.
Kuhara went on to a career in politics, forging ties with future Prime Minister
Giichi Tanaka and other political and military leaders, which Aikawa would
later use to his advantage.
Kenkichiro Hayashi played a very important role in
encouraging Kuhara Mining Company Limited to invest in Tawau. Hayashi was born
in the Tanba District, north of Kobe, in 1865. Hayashi established close
relationship with Masaji Inoue and maintained a very close relationship with
Kenjiro Den all of them from the same Tanba District.
Kenjiro Den
Kenjiro Den was a government official in the Ministry of
Home Affairs who was later appointed as a member of the House of Peers and
became Minister of Communication from 1916 to 1918. Kenjiro Den became Governor
General of Taiwan from 1919 to 1923 and after that appointed as Minister of
Agriculture and Commerce in 1923 till 1924 where during his political
activities received donations from Fusanosuke Kuhara. Kenjiro Den introduced
Fusanosuke Kuhara to Kenkichiro Hayashi who came up with a scheme and carried
out research on migration to the South Seas and considered as one of Japanese
experts on North Borneo.
Initially, Kuhara Mining Company planned to explore oil in
North Borneo. The company had carried out various research studies on oil and
other mineral resources in the Dutch East Indies and Malaya and it is likely
that Fusanosuke Kuhara wanted to develop oil resources in North Borneo after
his discussion with Kenkichiro Hayashi, whose research on North Borneo was
probably done at the request of Kuhara.
In 1915, the Japanese consul general in Singapore had
written to the North Borneo government indicating that two representatives of
the Mitsubishi conglomerate, Kenkichiro Hayashi and Rikita Sakai and others
wished to investigate commercial and industrial conditions in the state.
In 1916, The company opened a regional headquarters in
Singapore. Kenkichiro Hayashi and Rikita Sakai negotiated the sale of a rubber
extension station and applied for adjoining land (562 acres and 1500
respectively) in the Merotai Valley and submitted an application to the North
Borneo Government for the petroleum concession (it is not clear when they
applied) to the North Borneo Government on behalf of The Kuhara Mining Company.
Originally, The Kuhara Minning Company planned to use the
land as its base for oil exploration; however, when oil was not discovered, the
company decided to develop the land.
Kuhara Mining called "Nissan Norin" or "Kuhara
Estate" in general.
Nissan Norin refers to all the companies that have controlled
Kuhara Estate since its inception in February 1916.The name 'Nissan' originated
as an abbreviation for Nihon Sangyo = Ni San and ‘Norin' (meaning agriculture
and forestry).
In 1916, Kuhara Mining Company started developing rubber
plantations. Management staff were sent to Tawau from headquarters. Kenkichiro
Hayashi left Tokyo for Tawau to work as General Manager of Kuhara's Plantation
of which he later resigned and died of illness at Tokyo in 1920s. Rikita Sakai
from Singapore joined Hayashi as agronomist in 1916. However, Fusanosuke Kuhara
"never set foot in Tawau or any other part of North Borneo throughout his
life".
In 1917, Fusanosuke Kuhara informed the shareholders during
the annual shareholders meeting that the company had obtained the concession of
the entire North Borneo and had acquired land for the supervision of oil
exploration. The company went public on the Tokyo Exchange and opened a branch
office in Tawau. The company applied for 20,000 acres of land in 1917 of which
only 18,000 acres approved from the North Borneo Government.
In 1917, Nissan Norin started the Tawau Rubber Estate at the
west of Tawau, built their own railway and eventually developed some 20,000
acres and established an important timber business. In 1917, Nissan Norin
employed 370 Taiwanese, 358 Chinese and 350 Javanese workers, completed
planting rubber on 3,000 acres of land and started to produce latex in 1920.
In 1918, Tawau Rubber Estate (Nissan Norin) consisted of
five (5) division, 900 acres being planted in the first, 1000 acres in the
second, 117 in the third (the three (3) division of the old British estate),
380 acres in the Imam Estate, the fourth (4), and 500 acres in the Merotai
estate, the fifth. Road and rail to support this growth were developed apace, a
one chain wide route being reserved for a road from Tawau to the Merotai river.
In 1919, Tawau Rubber Estate (Nissan Norin or Kuhara
Estate), began extracting logs.
In 1920, the township of Merotai Kechil was constructed and
the company had begun planting hemp.
In early 1920s, Kuhara Mining Company suffered from post
first world war, however, its operations in Tawau were doing well.
Dr Kaizo Yamamoto
In 1920s, Dr Kaizo Yamamoto reported to be the medical
officer for the Kuhara Estate. Dr Kaizo Yamamoto became Tawau District medical
officer based on 1937 establishment list of Tawau. A long term Tawau resident
and well regarded locally with good relations with local people. Dr Yamamoto
contributions was enormous and his name remembered with Jalan Dr Yamamoto at
Tawau was named after him.
In 1921, Most of the 191 Japanese in Tawau would have been
administrative and clerical staff of Kuhara Estate.
In 1922, The Imam Estate was linked to Tawau by trolley
rail. An upgraded earthen road fit for cars was constructed to the gardens
beneath the Kuhara Bungalow at Mile 3 1/2 and a serviceable road to Burut some
15 miles from Town. By that year a total of 12,750 acres was within the
Japanese estate. Over three quarters of all rubber plantings up to 1940 took
place in the years between 1918-1922.
In 1923, the Tawau Rubber Estate (Nissan Norin or Kuhara
Estate) employed 1,500 workers, by far the largest employers in the Tawau area
and raising steadily to 3,950 workers in 1939. Mr K Nishimoto the General
Manager for much of the period and Mr Yamasaki, both of whom were jurors. Mr
Kimura was in charge of Imam Estate and Mr Tanaka in charge of the depot.
In 1924, The Kuhara Estate was the largest employer in the
State and continue to grow and diversify.
In 1928, Fusanosuke Kuhara resigned as Managing Director and
was replaced by his brother-in-law Yoshisuke Aikawa also known as (Gisuke
Ayukawa) who restructured the company into holding company (Nissan Konzern) and
renamed it to Japan Industrial Company Limited in December 1928.
In 1928, Fusanosuke Kuhara was elected to the lower house of
the Diet of Japan as a member of the Rikken Seiyūkai from the Yamaguchi 1st
Electoral District, and was made Minister of Communications the same year in
the Tanaka administration.
In 1929, Kuhara Estate monthly postage bill amounted to
$2000 and that year they had 13,000 acres under rubber cultivation.
In the 1930s, The North Borneo Trading Company and the Tawau
Rubber Estate (Nissan Norin) made join shipments of timber to Japan almost on a
monthly basis. Yamada and Company (Yamada Taneaki Shoten) in 1930s started to
market some logs for Tawau Rubber Estate and the company continued to make
shipments to Japan, with a brief pause in 1929 and 1930 due to depression,
until the imports were restricted as a result of the escalation of hostilities.
In 1930 - 1934, Kuhara Estate sustained heavy losses and
retrenchment occurred with allowances and wages cut, largely because Kuhara
Mining Company was experiencing difficulties.
In 1934, Kuhara Estates spun off from Japan Industry and
became separate entity under Japan Industrial Rubber Company Limited with Tawau
operations finished planting 12,800 acres of rubber, 300 acres of coconut, 1000
acres of abaca had a total 7,506 acres of undeveloped land as of January 1936.
In 1934, Japan Industrial Rubber Company Limited took over
Johore Rubber Plantation Company (2,845 acres of which 2,380 acres were in
production), acquired the Yamato Rubber Plantation Company (1,474 acres) and
continued to acquire rubber estates owned by Japanese Individuals in Malaya as
a result the total rubber plantation in Malaya increased to 5,195 acres.
In 1936, the company being granted 5000 acres of land by the
North Borneo Government.
In 1937, Japan Industrial Rubber Company Limited took over
another rubber plantation in Malaya, making it the biggest Japanese rubber
plantation owner in South East Asia. The company acquired the Imperial Timber
Industrial Company (Teikoku Mokuzi Kogyo) from the Japan Industrial Company
Limited.
In 1939, Japan Industrial Rubber Company Limited was renamed
as Nissan Norin Kogyo Company Limited. Nissan Norin Kogyo became one of the
group of companies comprising the Nissan Konzern which now includes the present
Nissan Motor Company Limited. This new company took the Daido Matches Company
and expanded its business aggressively. With strong financial framework, the
company was able to expand and diversify its business.
By 1940, the company had planted 6000 acres of hemp
including 600 acres as Mostyn.
In 1942, During the second World War the Japanese Army's
First Sawmill, The Daiichi Seizai Kohjoh was allocated logging responsibility
of North Borneo Trading Company Ltd and hand it over to Tawau Rubber Estate
(Nissan Norin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha).
In 1949, Nissan Norin was taken over by Borneo Abaca Limited
(owned by CDC - Colonial Development Corporation), known as BAL Estate after
the second World War.
Fusanosuke Kuhara
On 29th January 1965, Fusanosuke Kuhara died at the aged of
95 at Tokyo, Japan.
Jalan Kubota
KUBOTA ESTATES
Umeme Kubota
On the 6th March 1886, Umeme Kubota was born in Obaka,
Sarastima, Prefecture of Nagano, Japan where he went to middle school in Tokyo
and the Commercial University of Tokyo after which he was employed by
Mitsubishi Goshi Kaistra in Tokyo.
In 1914, Mitsubishi Holding Company, the holding company of
the Iwasaki family and one of the biggest conglomerates of Japan, commissioned
Uneme Kubota to identify suitable investment project in the South seas.
In 1915, he carried out research work in Australia, the
Philipines and various other tropical countries arriving in Tawau.
Koyata Iwasaki
In 1916 where Kubota identified Tawau as a suitable
investment place and Kubota and Kotaro Ono started making necessary
arrangements to acquire land with the necessary funds would be provided by
Koyata Iwasaki the Chairman of the Mitsubishi Group.
In 1916, Umeme Kubota made his first land acquisition about
2000 acres (inclusive 200 acres at Kinabutan) some 3 miles east of the town on
the way to Apas Valley where he set up Kubota Estate and had 200 employees
plant coconuts and became the first major estate to specialise in coconuts.
This was the beginning of a larger venture that would include rubber and some
experimental hemp growing, all of this establishing it as the second largest
estate in Tawau.
In 1918, Kubota sought to diversify into hemp growing in a
request for 1,000 more acres. The North Borneo Government responded for
granting 100 acres for experiment and eventually hand over the remaining 900
acres of the land. At the time Kubota wanted another 200-300 Formosan workers
and 350 Javanese workers
In 1919, Japanese plantation companies in the Tawau, Kubota Estate,
began extracting logs in 1919 and started exporting timber to Japan through
Mitsubishi Corporation.
By 1919, Kubota Estate covered 5,354 acres, 1,730 acres of
which were planted. The number of coconut tress was 62,000 and of rubber trees
6,650.
In 1920, Kubota Estate made the first trial shipment of
30,000 cu.ft of Seraya to Japan. Thereafter, the company continued to make
shipments to Japan, with a brief pause in 1929 and 1930 due to depression,
until the imports were restricted as a result of the escalation of hostilities.
In 1920, Kubota Estate hemp growing was successful.
Eichi Shibusawa
On 25th December 1921, Eiici Shibusawa a banker, who
established the South Seas Development Company (Nan'yo Shokusan) on 11th August
1917 of which acquired 14,936 of land in Sandakan of which 560 acres were
planted with coconuts and invested in abaca plantations in Davao, the
Philipines and sugar plantations in Saipan, Micronesia encountered financial
difficulties during recession and sold its operations in North Borneo to Kubota
Estate for about 170,000 yen.
In 1921, The Mitsubishi Group was concerned about its
increasing investment in North Borneo as the land in Tawau was registered under
Uneme Kubota's name and the company put the land under trust when Mitsubishi
Group investment reached 1.087 Million yen.
In 1922, Owen Rutter visited Tawau, which he writes "
Coconuts flourish everywhere, and it is chiefly to the increased activity in
their cultivation that Tawau owes its prosperity" and named "Kubota
coconut estate to the east".
In 1922, Kubota estate was restructured and the Okumura,
Kubota and Company took over the operations and the company headquarters were
located in Tawau with a branch in Tokyo.
In 1923, the material to build a tramway from the wharf to
the Kubota Estate arrived.
In 1924, the tramway line was in operation
In 1925, The company purchased native and semi indian cattle
and the company also appointed as an agent of Osaka Shipping Line.
In 1928, the company acquired 300 acres of land in Balung,
east of Tawau and planted abaca and the company served as the agent for Nanyo
Kaiun Kaisha (NKK Line) and Nihon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line)
In 1929, Okumura, Kubota and Company changed its name to
Kubota Company Limited.
In 1930, Yamada and Company (Yamada Taneaki Shoten) started
to market some logs for Kubota.
In 1932, the plantations under Kubota Estate were as follows:
Tawau, 3800 acres, Coconut; Sandakan, 500 acres, Coconut; Weston, 700 acres,
coconuts; Balung, Tawau, 200 acres, abaca.
In 1932, Umeme Kubota died and Kubota Estate, the second
largest Japanese Estate, was renamed Tawau Estate Limited with its costs were
borne by Koyota Iwasaki the owner of Mitsubishi.
By 1934, Kubota Estate had 2,070 acres under coconut, 100
acres under hemp and timber being exported.
By 1940, the company continued to acquire land with new
holdings on the Balung river.
in 1942, During the second world war, The Japanese Army
Second Sawmill the Daini Seizai Kohjoh to take over the British Borneo Timbers
Operations, but control was handed to the Tawau Estate Company (Kubota) (Tawau
Sangyo Kabashiki Kaisha) owned by Mitsubishi.
In 1949, Kubota Estate was taken over by CDC - Colonial
Development Corporation, that owned Borneo Abaca Limited known as BAL Estate
after the second World War.
Disclaimer: This is not a complete and detail history of
Kuhara Estate and Kubota Estate, with a great deal of information purposely
omitted as our actual intention is to revisit the origin and historically
significant of the name Jalan Nissan Norin, Jalan Kuhara, Jalan Dr Yamamoto and
Jalan Kubota of Tawau.
In collaboration with:
1. En Azlan Lauddin Martin
Azlan of Discover Tawau (FB Page)
Source:
1. Yutaka Shimomoto, Japanese Immigrants and Investments in
North Borneo
2. Ken Goodlet, Tawau The Making of a Tropical Community
3. Ross Ibbotson, The History of Logging in North Borneo
4. Kuhara1.blogspot.com
5. North Borneo Herald
Photo Credit:
1. Wikipedia
2. En Azlan Lauddin Martin Azlan of Discover Tawau (FB Page)
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