World War II Database

Kichisaburo Nomura was a graduate of the Naval Academy. From 1916 to 1918, he was the naval attaché to the United States; in this capacity he attended the Washington Naval Conference in 1921. In the 1920s, he held various roles in the Naval General Staff. He commanded Japanese naval forces off Shanghai in 1932, and was promoted to the rank of admiral in 1933. Between 1933 and 1937, he served on the Supreme War Council. In 1939, two years after he retired from the Navy, he was appointed Foreign Minister under Prime Minister Nobuyuki Abe, which led to the appointment as the ambassador to the United States. It had been speculated that this appointment was influenced by top naval officers who were reluctant to face the United States in war, and wished Nomura's pro-American stance would help alleviate some of the political pressures that had been building between the two countries. On 7 Dec 1941, he was one of the two diplomats (along with Special Envoy Saburo Kurusu) bringing the declaration of war to Washington DC at what was supposed to be thirty minutes before the Pearl Harbor strike, but decryption difficulties delayed the message from being delivered on time. He was appointed to the Privy Council in May 1945. After the war, he 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 denied he had any knowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbor before the date of the attack.

Kichisaburo Nomura Timeline

Photographs

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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Anonymous 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
2. Anonymous says:
   4 Jun 2010 07:51:09 AM
   
   Does anyone know what his opinions were on World War 2?

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