Claim: Sagara Oil Field is now a natural monument, but was previously the first oil field in Japan to use oil pumps and produced 43,000 barrels of oil per year at its most productive period.
Evidence: On November 28, 1980 the oil field was proclaimed a natural monument and protected cultural property by the Shizuoka Prefectural government, and was transformed into a public park. The Sagara field was the only producing oil field on Japan's Pacific coast, and was the first in Japan to use oil pumps. At the height of its production (in 1884), some 600 people were employed, and the field was producing 43,000 barrels of oil (721 kiloliters) per year.