Kishi Colony Legacies: Email Correspondence on the Orange Petroleum Company

Correspondence Between Taro Takahashi and George Hirasaki

The following collection of emails were written between Taro Takahashi (from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964) and George Hirasaki from 2004 to 2010. These emails are ordered by time they were sent (starting from 2004)

The first set of emails discuss Katsunore Wakasa, who is Takahashi's father and was an engineer for the Orange Petroleum Company.

George,

It's wonderful to correspond with you. I have been to the Kishi plantation twice, once in 1998 and again in 2002. My grandfather's name was Katsunore Wakasa, he was born in Hokkaido in 1894, and was at the Kishi farm from 1922 through 1925. After 1925, he returned to Japan and entered into an arranged marriage with my grandmother; as there was no heir to my grandmother's estate, he assumed her surname of Takahashi. My dad came to the US for college in 1953.

Timothy Takahashi (son of Taro Takahashi)

Dear George,

My son Timothy forward your e-mail to me. It is certainly a pleasure "meeting" with a descendant of the Kishi Colony.

My father, Katsu-nori Wakasa, spent several years with the Orange Petroleum Company as a drilling engineer, although he had to keep books and secure supplies in addition. Immediately after his graduation from the School of Mines at the University of Tokyo in 1922, he was hired by the company and sent to Orange, Texas. He lived in the Kishi farm for several weeks to get acquainted with the American way of life, and then served as an engineer under Mr. Shunkichi Nomura, vice-president of the Orange Petroleum Company. Mr. Nomura was a business man, who represented Japanese interest and was a relative of Baron Matsukata (formerly Minister of Finance, Japanese Government), a major investor for the company. I understood that Mr. Kishi traveled to Japan and negotiated with Baron Matsukata for his investment to the Orange Company. My father told me that he did not know anything about accounting methods since his was trained as an engineer. He learned American style accounting from Mr. Nomura, who was trained for business administration. Mr. Nomura returned Japan, and some years later, rose to the presidency of the Nippon Sekiyu Kaisha (Nisseki), one of the largest oil companies in Japan. My father returned to Japan also, but quit being an engineer and ran a hat manufacturing business for my mother's family. During the WW II, the hat business was shut down, and he taught oil engineering at a technical college in Tokyo, and advised the government for the redevelopment of the oil fields in the Southeast Asia, which was ten occupied by Japanese military.

Taro

I was attending a meeting in Seattle, WA, last week, and spent the weekend with my son, Timothy. In our casual conversation, I told him that my father had arrived in Seattle aboard a ship named "Empress of Russia". This week, my son was in LA and visited the Japanese American Museum there. He remembered about my father's arrival in Seattle, and looked up the passenger list. He found my father's name (Katsunori Wakasa) arriving on July 2, 1922, estimation Terry, TX. He also found that Hachitaro Kishi of Terry, TX, was on the same ship. Hachitaro's contact in Japan was listed as Mrs. Yamaguchi of Kojimachi, Tokyo. I never knew that my father was traveling with one of the Kishis. I presume that Hachitaro was one of your uncles.

Taro

The following email discusses the Kishi Colony and photos Taro Takahashi has found of it.

I have gone through my photo collections last night, and found some which might interest you. As a matter of fact, these photos taken by my father in and around Orange, TX, reached to me miraculously.

My father had a photo album, in which his photos during his stay in US were organized. I saw them many times when I was a teenager in Japan. Since the album contained many photos taken in Texas, my mental images of the US which I developed in my youth were the land of oil derricks, cattle and bayous, instead of sky scrapers in New York and auto manufacturing in Detroit. At any rate, these albums were lost during WW II bombing. Then, about 10 years ago, a bunch of old photos were found among the possessions of my fathers elder sister after her death. Since she lived in a country side, her home was not bombed in the war, and hence the old photos were not destroyed. These are the photos which I have in my hands. They were sent to her from my father from Texas to show his life there in 1920's. On the back of each photo, my father wrote his commentaries and explanations. One of them shows about 10 kids hanging around a farm truck, and my father wrote "There are about 30 of these kids on the Kishi Farm, where I am staying." One of them could be your mother.

Taro

PS: I just began to wonder if I was named after Mr. Kishi's son, Taro.

The following email discusses Commander Isoroku Yamamoto and his time spent in Orange, Texas and Japan.

I have a few photographs taken around 1923 by my father during a visit of Japanese Naval Officers to Orange, TX. Shown with Mr. Kishi, Mr. Nomura and my father was Commander Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander in Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. My father used to talk about the evening, when Yamamoto stayed in my father's apartment and discussed oil supply for the Japanese war machine. May be, Yamamoto had an idea of running his fleet with oil from Orange, TX?!? However, I wondered for many years, why Yamamoto knew about and visited a minute oil producer like the Orange Petroleum Co. I surmise that one reason was that Yamamoto came from Nagaoka, Niigata, the same town as Mr. Kishi. Second, Mr. Nomura came from a wealthy industrial family, who owned Kawasaki shipyards, a manufacturer of the Imperial Navy ships.

After I wrote my previous e-mail, I found out a description of Adm. Yamamoto and Orange oil field in the web. The web site story is consistent with what I wrote to you about the story of Yamamoto, Baron Matsukata and the Kishi oil field. Since the story I wrote to you was based on the information given to me by my father totally independent from the web site information and it corroborates with the web site story, it must be close to the truth with only a few minor missing points.

The photo of Mr. Kishi, Adm. Yamamoto, Adm. Ide, Mr. Nomura (extreme left) and another (perhaps Adm. Kaku?) which was taken in front of Orange field oil derricks is interesting. I have the original copy of a photo taken almost exactly with the same scene, with the exception that Mr. Nomura is replaced with my father. Therefore, I surmise that the photo in the web was taken by my father, while the copy I have was taken by Mr. Nomura. I met Mr. Nomura several times in Tokyo when I was a young boy. He made a strong impression on me, since he visited our Tokyo house driving a cream colored Lincoln Continental (which was probably only one existed in Japan before the Pearl Harbor).

During the WW II, my father corresponded with Adm. Yamamoto serving in the front line. I recall that in his letter Adm. Yamamoto stated how he enjoyed an evening of discussion with my father in Orange. The story of Adm. Yamamoto who spent an evening in my father's apartment and discussed world oil supplies is based on the letter from Adm. Yamamoto. This letter (along with the photo mentioned earlier) was reproduced in the opening pages of an engineering text book on oil production, which my father published in 1942.

The following emails discuss Petroleum Engineering, specifically, over the book written by Taro Takahashi's father.

Dear Taro,

I would be interested in the book on petroleum engineering written by your father. I have been awarded the Lester Uren Award by the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Uren wrote the first petroleum engineering text book in the U.S. I have a copy of his book.

George

Dear George,

It is most interesting to learn how paths of people are entwined each other regardless of the great distance across the broad Pacific and the continental U. S.

As you mentioned Uren's book on petroleum engineering, I vaguely recall that it was the book which my father heavily referenced in his small text book "Sai-yu gijutsu" (Technology of Oil Production). Although I was 11 years old, I helped him to proof read the galley, and saw a 1 1/2" thick impressive book lying on his desk. I remember that the author had a short name, and had the first letter of the name was "U". I am happy to hear that you are a recipient of the Uren Award for the recognition of your distinguished contributions. I would appreciate hearing about your accomplishments. My field of research is chemical oceanography and I have been working for the past 40 years on the natural carbon cycle in the oceans and atmosphere.

Taro

The following emails discuss Chemical Oceanography as Takahashi and Hirasaki exchange information in their fields of research and work.

Dear George,

I understand that your field of research is surface chemistry related to the movement of petroleum through host rocks. A number of years ago, I served once or twice as an examiner for Somasandran's Ph. D. students at Columbia. I recall that one of the research topics was zeta-potential for carbonate minerals. As a matter of fact, my idea of sequestering industrial CO2 is closely related to your field.

As to the iron fertilization of ocean waters as a means for sequestering atmospheric CO2, I have been involved in it for many years, since the idea was first discussed at a meeting sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences/Engineering some 15 years ago. More recently, I have been involved in the field experiment conducted in the Antarctic Ocean. The project has been supported by NSF and is called Southern Ocean Fe Experiment (SOFeX). General findings by the SOFeX project (I am one of the coauthors) have been recently published in SCIENCE magazine (Kenneth H. Coale et al.,(2004). Southern Ocean iron enrichment experiment: Carbon cycling in high- and low-Si waters. Science, 304, 408-414.). An addition of nano-mole level Fe to ocean waters replete with macro-nutrients (nitrate, phosphate and silicate) enhances photosynthetic production. This will reduce the pCO2 of seawater and, as a result, more atmospheric CO2 will be absorbed by seawater. However, organic (or biogenic) debris will be oxidized to CO2 rapidly during its descent toward the deep ocean floor (~ 4000 meters). The concentration of organic debris in a water column decreases exponentially with a characteristic depth scale of 100- 300 meters. Correspondingly, the concentration of CO2 dissolved in seawater increases and that of dissolved oxygen decreases rapidly with increasing water depth. Accordingly, as stated by your colleague, only a minor fraction (1 % or less) of the organic debris reach the ocean floor. 99% of the organic matter produced in the photic layers of the oceans are recycled within the water column. As a matter of fact, the present day sediments from deep ocean floors of the global oceans are white (due to CaCO3) or reddish brown (ferric iron oxide) color and contain less than 1% of organic carbon. Required conditions, under which organic carbon can accumulate on the sea floor, are that water columns become anoxic, so that no dissolved oxygen would be available in seawater for the oxidation of organic carbon. Mid-depth waters around the discharge of the Mississippi River are becoming anoxic recently because of the increased organic carbon falling through the water column. This has become a cry of environmentalists because of adverse impacts of anoxia to the local ecosystems (including shell fish and shrimps). I do not think wise to create a large anoxia in the oceans in order to produce conditions suitable for the CO2 sequestration in deep ocean sediments. Negative ecological impacts would far outweigh the benefits of sequestering industrial CO2.

As to the sedimentation rate, the global mean is 2 to 3 cm per 1000 years for the deep oceans. The rates in the Pacific (mostly terrigenous and wind blown materials) are in the lower end of the spectrum, whereas the rates for the Atlantic tend to be higher reflecting the smaller size of the oceans and accumulation of skeletal CaCO3. The rates around the Antarctica continent are in the higher end of spectrum because of the proximity to the glaciers which grind and transport continental rocks. The rates of sedimentation over the continental slope and shelf are, as you are well aware, orders of magnitude greater than the deep ocean sedimentation rates and vary widely from place to place.

Taro

Dear Taro,

I had read the article by Coale et al. I see you are reference # 14. It occurred to me that further south waters that are richer in silica produces more diatoms rather than algae and thus more organic material will likely be sequestered in the sediment. I understand that the sediment must have organic content somewhat greater than 1% to have enough organic matter for gas hydrate to accumulate.

George

George,

Since diatoms have greater density than seawater and fluffy biogenic debris, it has been assumed that diatoms are an efficient carrier for transporting organic matter (encased in siliceous skeletons) to the deep sea floor. Recent observations at sea, however, show that diatom skeletons which are sampled at water depths below about 100 meters are largely devoid of organic contents. We conjecture that diatoms have gone through digestive systems of zooplankton and larger organisms, and that organic matter within diatom frustules have been stripped during grazing. Diatom frustules sink fast through a water column, but do not transport much carbon with it in the present day open ocean environments.

However, we see black organic layers in older deep sea sediments (e. g. during Tertiary) over large areas of the North Pacific. On the basis of these observations, we interpret that some portions of the Pacific Ocean became anoxic during the geological past. In the present day oceans, organic rich sediments are accumulating below anoxic water columns in restricted basin areas such as the Panama Basin (tropical Pacific) and Caricao Trench (Atlantic). Black Sea (although an inland sea) is another modern example for the accumulation of organic sediments under anoxic waters. In near-shore environments, organic carbon may be transported to sediments as detritus along with terrestrial rock debris. Therefore, the transport paths of organic detritus in the near-shore environments are quite different from the open ocean processes. Methane hydrates in the continental shelf and slope sediments may be largely produced from these carbon sources. Those found in deep sea sediments may have been derived from carbon-rich sediments of specific geological periods.

Taro

This next set of emails discusses the Orange Petroleum Company once again and its relation to the Kishi Colony

December 17, 2007

Dear Taro,

Were you at the AGU meeting in San Francisco? I spoke to at two or three people who knew you and thought you may have been at the meeting.

I found old records of Orange Petroleum Company. The drilling reports for the Kishi-Lang wells (1 & 2) were during the time your father was the Petroleum Engineer for the company.

George

Dear George,

Thank you very much for sending me very interesting documents on the Orange Petroleum Company and well logs. The logs show that some oil was found at 3000 - 3500 feet. This is consistent with my father's letter to his sister (ca. 1922) that the wells were producing about $2000 day at its peak. I am surprised to learn that the Orange Petroleum Co. lasted until 1942, when it was eliminated by the war act. The Kawasaki Heavy Industry Co., that was a part owner at that time, invested on the Orange Petroleum Co. from the very beginning. As you know, Mr. Kichimatsu Kishi traveled to Japan in or about 1918, and received financial support from Baron Matsukata, who was the Minister of Finance during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 and a major owner of the Kawasaki Industries. Matsukata asked Mr. Shunkichi Nomura, one of his sons in law, to head the Orange Petroleum Co. My father was just graduated from the School of Mines, University of Tokyo, and was hired by Mr. Nomura to go to Texas with him as his engineer. The ship's passenger list, that was found by my son Tim at the Hirasaki Library in LA, shows that my father was aboard the Empress of Russia with one of the Kishi's (presumably a brother of Kichimatsu) from Yokohama to Seattle. After they worked for several years in Orange, TX, Mr. Nomura and my father returned Japan around 1925. Mr. Nomura became the president of Nippon Sekiyou Co (Nisseki) later. Although my father was asked to join Nisseki with Mr. Nomura, my father declined the offer and married my mother to manage a hat manufacturing/whole sale business.

Thank you again for sharing such interesting documents with me. Sorry that I miss an opportunity to meet you in person at the San Francisco AGU meeting.

Taro

This final pair of emails goes over an exchange between Hirasaki and Takashi on airplanes.

July 1, 2010

Dear Taro,

Attached is a photo of the plane I had an opportunity to pilot earlier this month.

George

Dear George,

I did not know that you are an airplane enthusiast. I always wanted to fly on a WWII fighter plane, but never done it. My boyhood dream was to design a fighter plane like Mitsubishi ZERO.

Toward the end of WWII, schools in and around major Japanese cities were closed. I was an 9th grader and was drafted to work at the Sumitomo Aircraft Co in Shizuoka. My job was to assist in grinding propellers for ZEROs. A few years ago, my son, Tim, who is an aerodynamic engineer, took me to Chino Air field in California, and showed me one of the last operational ZEROs. That was as close as I got to the fighter plane.

In the write-ups which you sent me, I saw a B-25 Mitchel in the background. I believe that I saw one of the Doolittle Raider's B-25's flying over Tokyo in 1942 (?). I was a 6th grader and lived in Tokyo, walking distance from the Tokyo Bay. I was coming home from school at noon on Saturday. I heard strange engine noise and saw a low flying black plane passed by. Sometime later, air-raid sirens were sounded.

That event convinced my father to move away from Tokyo to a country side near Shizuoka in 1943. It is very interesting that the photo of B-25 in your e-mail evoked my old memory.

Taro