World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseKichisaburo Nomura was born in Wakayama, Japan. He graduated from the 26th class of the Japanese Naval Academy in 1898. During the Russo-Japanese War, he served aboard cruiser Saien and cruiser Takachiho. In Mar 1908, he served as the naval attaché to Austria. In 1910, he served as the naval attaché to Germany. Returning to Japan in May 1911, he became the executive officer of cruiser Otowa in Sep of the same year. He spent much of the WW1 years in the United States as the naval attaché. He was given his first command, cruiser Yakumo, upon his return to Japan in 1918, but it would be extremely brief as he was almost immediately transferred to the General Staff for post-WW1 conferences. In this role, he was a member of Japan's delegation of the Versailles Peace Conference and then the Washingon Naval Conference of 1921-1922. In the 1920s into the early 1930s, he served a various of staff and sea-going positions, including commanding officer of the 1st Expeditionary Fleet, Vice Chief of the Navy General Staff, commanding officer of Kure Naval District and then Yokosuka Naval District, and others. During the First Battle of Shanghai, he commanded Japanese Army and Navy forces. In this role, he was present at a ceremony in Shanghai in Apr 1932 when a Korean nationalist attacked with a grenade, injuring Nomura's right eye; this injury would blind his right eye for the rest of his life. He was promoted to the rank of full admiral in Mar 1933. From 1933 to 1937, he was the Naval Councilor on the Supreme War Council. Retiring from military service in 1937, he served two years as the principal of the exclusive Gakushuin Peer's school before being made the Foreign Minister under Prime Minister Nobuyuki Abe. In Nov 1940, Nomura was made the Japanese Ambassador to the United States for his friendly stance toward the Americans. In this role, he repeatedly requested permissions to give in to selected American demands in order to de-escalate tensions, but nearly all of his requests were turned down by his superiors. As Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo lost confidence in Nomura, Togo dispatched Saburo Kurusu to jointly conduct negotiations with the Americans. On 26 Nov, US Secretary of State Cordell Hull presented Nomura and Kurusu with a set of non-negotiable demands for Japan to withdraw all troops from China and to sever relations with Germany and Italy, leading to Tokyo firmly embark on the decision to go to war. This decision was not made known to Nomura and Kurusu, but in the Americans perspective they were considered as deceitful for continuing the discussion all the way through the start of the Pacific War. In the afternoon of 7 Dec 1941, Nomura and Kurusu delivered Japan's declaration of war after the Pearl Harbor attack had already taken place, thus further damaging his standing with his American colleagues. He was interned at Hot Springs, Virginia, United States between Dec 1941 and Jun 1942, at which time he was transported to Mozambique aboard passenger liner Gripsholm. He spotted US Ambassador to Japan Joseph Grew at the docks, who was preparing to board Gripsholm for his return to the United States; the two diplomats (along with Kurusu) removed their hats in mutual respect to each other. Nomura was publicly lauded for his attempts to negotiate with the Americans against all odds, even if he had failed to secure peace. He held no official positions during most of the war years, but continued to hold significant influence. In May 1945, he was appointed to the Privy Council. After the war, he was not prosecuted by the Allied military tribunal, but was interrogated by the United States Navy. The interrogator commented that Nomura was "an extremely capable individual, versed in history and foreign affairs, and apparently completely frank in discussing the past and current troubles in Japan." Nomura later became the President of the Victor Company of Japan (JVC) and then played a role in the country's post-war rearmament. In 1954, he was elected into the House of Councilors. In the late 1950s, he was considered a leading candidate for the position of the head of the Defense Agency, but he declined, noting that the agency should be led by a civilian, and his past military career made him a poor choice. He passed away in the National Tokyo First Hospital in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, Japan in 1964. He was buried at the temple of Gokokuji in Bunkyo district of Tokyo.

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1.  Bill says:
16 Feb 2009 10:35:29 AM

in the 1970 movie "tora,tora,tora" the actors who played the japanese diplomats nomura and kurusu looked like the real men. i do not believe they knew about the plan to attack pearl harbor