Seito Saibara
Seito Saibara (西原 清東 Saibara Seitō?, October 11, 1861 – April 11, 1939) was a Japanese parliament member, politician, administrator, colonist, and farmer. Apart from his missionary activities, he is credited with having first established the rice industry on the Gulf Coast of the United States.
Born in 1861 in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan, Seito Saibara was the first Christian member of the Japanese Diet at a time when there was strong opposition to Christianity in Japan. Later Saibara would be asked to relinquish his seat in the parliament to become president of Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan.
In 1901 Saibara came to Hartford, Connecticut to study at Hartford Theological Seminary. He was then encouraged by Japanese Consul General Sadatsuchi Uchida, the Houston Chamber of Commerce and the Southern Pacific Railroad to travel to Texas to teach rice production to local farmers. In 1903 Saibara moved to Texas where he began the first Japanese-Christian colony in the state. His extended family (including his parents Hide and Masuya, and his son Kiyoaki) and 30 other colonists joined him in Webster, Texas to begin rice farming on a 1,000-acre (4.0 km2) lease that Saibara later bought.
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