Kichisaburō Nomura | |
|---|---|
野村 吉三郎 | |
 Nomura in 1939 | |
| Minister for Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 25 September 1939 – 16 January 1940 | |
| Prime Minister | Nobuyuki Abe |
| Preceded by | Nobuyuki Abe |
| Succeeded by | Hachirō Arita |
| Member of theHouse of Councillors | |
| In office 3 June 1954 – 8 May 1964 | |
| Preceded by | Tokugawa Yorisada |
| Succeeded by | Tsuruichi Wada |
| Constituency | Wakayama at-large |
| Member of thePrivy Council | |
| In office 18 May 1944 – 13 June 1946 | |
| Monarch | Hirohito |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1877-12-16)16 December 1877 |
| Died | 8 May 1964(1964-05-08) (aged 86)[1] Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan |
| Political party | Liberal Democratic (1955–1964) |
| Alma mater | Imperial Japanese Naval Academy |
| Awards | Order of the Rising Sun |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Japan |
| Branch/service |  Imperial Japanese Navy |
| Years of service | 1898–1937 |
| Rank |  Admiral |
| Commands |
|
Kichisaburō Nomura (野村 吉三郎,Nomura Kichisaburō; December 16, 1877 – May 8, 1964) was an admiral in theImperial Japanese Navy and was theambassador to the United States at the time of theattack on Pearl Harbor.
Nomura was born inWakayama city,Wakayama Prefecture. He graduated from the 26th class of theImperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1898, with a ranking of 2nd out of a class of 57 cadets. As amidshipman, he served on thecorvetteHiei and battleshipYashima. He was promoted to ensign on January 12, 1900, and to sub-lieutenant on October 1, 1901. As a crewman, he made a voyage to theUnited States on the battleshipMikasa from 1901 to 1902.
Promoted to lieutenant on September 26, 1903, he served on a large number of ships, including the gunboatMaya, corvetteKongō, and cruiserTokiwa. He served as chief navigator on the cruiserSaien (1904) and cruiserTakachiho during theRusso-Japanese War. After the war, he was chief navigator on the cruisersHashidate andChitose. In March 1908, he was sent asnaval attaché toAustria. He was promoted tolieutenant commander on September 25, 1908, and became naval attaché toGermany in 1910. He returned to Japan in May 1911 and becameexecutive officer on the cruiserOtowa in September 1911. In June 1912, he was assigned a number of staff roles and was promoted tocommander on December 1, 1913.DuringWorld War I, from 11 December 1914 until 1 June 1918, Nomura was naval attaché to theUnited States. While in the United States, he was promoted to captain on April 1, 1917.
On Nomura's return to Japan, he received his first command, the cruiserYakumo. However, only a month later, he was reassigned to theImperial Japanese Navy General Staff, joining Japan's delegation to theVersailles Peace Treaty Conference. Following the conclusion of negotiations, he returned toWashington, D.C., to participate in theWashington Naval Conference of 1921 and 1922.
On June 1, 1922, Nomura was promoted torear admiral. He served as chief of the 3rd section of the Navy General Staff, followed by Commander of the 1st Expeditionary Fleet, Director of the Education Bureau, and Vice Chief of the Navy General Staff. He was promoted tovice admiral on December 1, 1926. On June 11, 1930, Nomura becameCommander in Chief of theKure Naval District. He was Commander in Chief of theYokosuka Naval District in December 1930.
During theFirst Shanghai Incident in 1932, Nomura was commander of the Imperial Japanese NavyThird Fleet, supporting the Army, which was under the command of GeneralYoshinori Shirakawa.
A few months later in April 1932, aKorean independence activist namedYun Bong-gil threw a bomb at Japanese dignitaries including Nomura while they were attending a celebration of EmperorHirohito's birthday at Shanghai'sHongkou Park.[2] Shirakawa was seriously wounded in the attack and died of his injuries the following month. Shigemitsu, the Ambassador to China, lost his right leg, and Nomura was blinded in one eye.[3]
Nomura was promoted to fulladmiral on March 1, 1933. From 1933 to 1937, Nomura served as Naval Councilor on theSupreme War Council, and retired from active service in 1937.
After his retirement, Nomura was principal of theGakushūin Peer's school from 1937 to 1939. He was appointedForeign Minister of Japan from 1939 to 1940 in the cabinet ofNobuyuki Abe.
On November 27, 1940, Nomura was sent asambassador to the United States, replacingKensuke Horinouchi, who had served since March 1939. Roosevelt, who as Assistant Secretary of the Navy knew Nomura back in his Washington, D.C. years, welcomed the appointment of the fellow Navy man whom he liked as an honest man. Throughout much of 1941, Nomura negotiated withUnited States Secretary of StateCordell Hull to prevent the war between Japan and the United States. Nomura attempted to resolve issues including the Japanese conflict with China, the Japanese occupation ofFrench Indochina, and the U.S. oil embargo against Japan. Nomura's repeated pleas to his superiors to offer the Americans meaningful concessions were rejected by his government, while Hull and his boss Roosevelt were far from yielding themselves.[4] On November 15, 1941, Nomura was joined by a "special envoy" to Washington,Saburō Kurusu.[5]
Nomura, and in fact the entire Japanese Foreign Office, was kept in the dark as to the Imperial Japanese Navy's impending attack upon Pearl Harbor.[6] Nomura and Kurusu had todecode the radioed message of Japan's breaking off of the negotiations with the United States, which practically meant war. Tokyo failed to emphasize the importance of getting the message to Washington before the attack. The embassy had also refused to hire local typists to maintain secrecy. It was sent from Japan on Monday, December 8, Japan time, and received while the Washington embassy's technical support staff were still on their Sunday off. The remaining staff on duty, unfamiliar with English and the embassy decryption methods, took longer than expected to decode the message and get it to Nomura, who stated it was for these reasons why he was unable to deliver the message until after the actual attack had taken place.[7]
In his memoirs, Hull credited Nomura for trying sincerely to prevent the war. While the Japanese consulate struggled to decipher their own code, Washington had broken it and Hull knew how Nomura was being used by Tokyo as a convenient time-buying ploy. All in vain, but Nomura, who understood the U.S. and respected it, always hoped for the breakthrough for peace and believed it was possible.[8]
After the beginning of the war with the U.S. the Japanese diplomats were interned inHomestead Resort inHot Springs, Virginia and were later transferred to theGreenbrier Hotel inWest Virginia. In the summer of 1942 they sailed toPortuguese East Africa, where they were exchanged with Americans arriving from Japan.[9]
On August 20, 1942, Nomura returned to Japan. He continued to serve in an unofficial capacity as an advisor to the government through World War II, and he was appointed to thePrivy Council in May 1945.
After the war, the well-connected and well-liked Nomura started new careers. He was frequently visited and supported by the members of American Council on Japan including the former US Ambassador to Tokyo,Joseph Grew, who were convinced that their amiable old friend still had an important role to play in newly democratic Japan and the new US-Japan relationship. He was invited by Prime MinisterShigeru Yoshida, close ally of GHQ, the US Forces in Japan, and of the American Council, to serve as a committee member studying the rearmament of Japan during the Cold War.
In 1954, Nomura ran for theHouse of Councillors (upper house) and was elected by a landslide.[10] He was also recruited byKonosuke Matsushita, a fellow Wakayama city native and the founder of Panasonic, as a general manager for JVC,Victor Company of Japan, which was owned byMatsushita and Nomura quickly reestablished its former tie with RCA in US. In the late 1950s, he was considered to be a strong candidate to head theDefense Agency by two prime ministers,Ichirō Hatoyama andNobusuke Kishi, however he declined both offers and expressed his belief in civilian control of armed forces. Nomura had been a civilian for nearly two decades by that time, but was still regarded by many as a retired admiral of the old Imperial Japanese Navy.
Nomura was re-elected to the upper house in 1960 and died in office in 1964.[11]
From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia[unreliable source]
Media related toKichisaburō Nomura at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
