Mr Shimomoto’s book about this relatively unknown period in Sabah’s history, published by The Sabah Society, was launched on Wednesday 14th July. Sixty five people attended, one of the best attendances to any event held at the Secretariat.
Mr Shimomoto set the scene by describing the somewhat involved story of Japan in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. The previous isolation policies had to change when economic conditions worsened and there was a need for hard currency to fuel economic development. The government then began encouraging migration, mostly to Hawaii, North America and Australia, followed by small scale, intermittent, migration to North Borneo.
From about 1910 onwards, the phenomenon of “South Seas Fever” saw many more Japanese migrating to the region, and both individuals and conglomerates looking for ways to invest. Support, in the form of information, came from the Governor-General’s Secretariat in Taiwan and this helped Japanese conglomerates to increase their investments. Initial investments were in rubber and coconut in Tawau by Nissan Norin and Kubota Estate. Nissan Norin developed areas producing the quick growing abaca, which had been sucessfully grown in Davao. A retired naval officer, Orita, succeeded in the establishment of Borneo Fisheries at Si-Amil Island, eventually contributing 3% of the total export revenue of North Borneo.
As the late 1930s approached, the Japanese government had strategically secured important goods and facilities for the coming war in the Pacific. After the end of the war, the Japanese immigrants, interned when the war began, were repatriated. They left behind the results of their work, the estates of rubber, palm oil and cocoa, for Sabahans to inherit and further develop.
The Sabah Society wishes to acknowledge its sincere and grateful thanks to Datuk Tham Nyip Shen for his generous sponsorship of the publication of this book and for officiating the launch of the book.
The photograph shows Mr Minoru Kikuchi, Chief Consul of the Japanese Consulate in Sabah; Mr Yutaka Shimomoto, the author; Datuk Tham Nyip Shen, former Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah; Datuk Chan Chew Lun, President of The Sabah Society; Mrs Connie Shimomoto.
Thank you for the very important information
Mr. Yutaka Shimomoto,author of the book, Japanese Immigrants and Investments in Borneo has provided the missing link to the number of roads in Tawau which have Japanese names. The reason being that there were a number of Japanese companies operating (before the Second World War) in the district then. Though the acreage involved in the hemp plantation were small by today’s standard comparatively, nevertheless it show, Sabah (North Borneo) was already attracting Japanese interest.
If not for the war, Japanese investment in Sabah particularly in Tawau would have been much bigger. Taking into consideration that the land there are volcanic in nature and are therefore fertile. And with Japanese leading edge technology, it could have turned Tawau into the breadbasket of Japan and Malaysia’s respectively. In the process, earning billions of dollars for the state government’s coffer.
A book with facts and figures.