Admiral Nomura graduated from the Japanese Naval Academy in 1898 and saw service in the Russo-Japanese War in a number of ships, one of which was sunk by a mine. In 1908 he went to Russia as naval attaché, and later served at a similar duty in both Vienna and Berlin. Back in Japan he was secretary to the Navy Minister before becoming naval attaché in Washington during the period of the First World War. He was one of the Japanese delegates to the Washington Disarmament Conference of 1921-1922, and in 1926 he attained flag rank. He commanded the Japanese Third Fleet during the “Shanghai Incident” of 1931, and shortly after lost an eye as a result of a bomb thrown by a Korean terrorist.
In 1937 Admiral Nomura resigned from active service, but served Japan in other posts, including that of Ambassador to the United States in the fateful months leading up to Pearl Harbor. During the Second World War he was not given any active military command, and in the investigations of Japanese War Criminals he was given a clean slate by the Allied War Crimes Commission.
