As a businessman he became active in a South Seas trading venture at the suggestion of Tokyo governor Goroku (Itsumu) TAKASAKI, which was funded by shizoku jusan kin (grants for the retraining of samurai), and in 1890 formed the Nanto (South Sea Islands) Company, voyaging to the South Seas on the Tenyu Maru (Heaven's Help) trading vessel.
実業家としては、東京府知事高崎五六から提案された府の士族授産金処理事業としての南洋交易を引き受け、明治23年（1890年）に南島商会を組織し、貿易船天祐丸で南洋渡航を行う。