{"record":{"aliases":[],"appointmentIds":["japan-fb70eb3f926ddb"],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":["nomura-papers"],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/kichisaburo-nomura-e549162bae/","countrySlug":"japan","entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/kichisaburo-nomura-e549162bae/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Kichisaburō Nomura spent most of his early career in the navy. Born in Wakayama in 1877, he graduated from the Naval Academy in 1898, served in the Russo-Japanese War, and held assignments in Austria, Germany, and the United States. As naval attaché in Washington during the First World War, he developed contacts that later made him a candidate for difficult negotiations with American leaders.","Nomura attended the Paris peace conference and the Washington naval conference, rose to admiral, and commanded major naval formations. In 1932 he lost his right eye in a bombing in Shanghai. After entering the reserve, he became head of Gakushūin and briefly served as foreign minister in 1939–1940. He sought to improve relations with the United States as the commercial treaty between the two countries approached expiration.","Appointed ambassador in the crisis preceding the Pacific War, Nomura spent 1941 negotiating with President Franklin Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull. The talks failed to reconcile the two governments' positions. On December 7 he delivered Japan's final memorandum to Hull at 2:20 p.m., Washington time. Hull's public statement that day emphasized that Japan's attack had already begun before the memorandum arrived.","Nomura returned to Japan in 1942 and later served on the Privy Council. Barred from public office during the occupation, he reentered public life after the restriction ended, became president of Japan Victor, and won election to the House of Councillors in 1954. He remained a legislator until his death in 1964. His papers are held by the National Diet Library."],"id":"japan:kichisaburo nomura","identifiers":{},"legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-e549162bae8f8fa901ac.html","name":"Kichisaburō Nomura","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["nomura-papers","nomura-jacar"],["nomura-papers","nomura-jacar"],["nomura-jacar","nomura-final-note","nomura-hull"],["nomura-papers"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-e549162bae8f8fa901ac.html","relatedEvents":[{"basis":"named-in-story","country":"Japan","date":"1941-12-07","description":"Japanese aircraft attack Pearl Harbor while envoys in Washington deliver the note ending negotiations. War follows, and diplomatic relations are severed.","id":"japan-pearl-harbor","note":"Named people and the recorded mission tenure provide the connection; overlap does not establish personal participation.","sourceUrls":["https://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/p3.asp","https://www.jacar.go.jp/english/exhibition/nichibei/popup/pop_29.html","https://history.state.gov/countries/japan"],"title":"Pearl Harbor and a diplomatic rupture","url":"Japan.html#history-japan-pearl-harbor"}],"relatedPeople":[],"relationships":[],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-10-28","revision":"546c256078fb1c1f","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"2022-05-06","id":"nomura-papers","locator":"Biographical chronology and collection description","publisher":"National Diet Library","title":"野村吉三郎関係文書","type":"archive","url":"https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/rnavi/kensei/nomurakichisaburou"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"2005","id":"nomura-jacar","locator":"野村吉三郎 section","publisher":"Japan Center for Asian Historical Records","title":"公文書に見る日米交渉 — 主要人物","type":"institutional-history","url":"https://www.jacar.go.jp/exhibition/nichibei/person/index.html"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1941-12-07","id":"nomura-final-note","locator":"Document420,title and memorandum","publisher":"U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian","title":"Memorandum Handed by the Japanese Ambassador to the Secretary of State at2:20P.M.on December7,1941","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1931-41v02/d420"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"1941-12-07","id":"nomura-hull","locator":"Opening paragraphs","publisher":"U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian","title":"Statement by the Secretary of State,December7,1941","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1931-41v02/d421"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"2012-11-19","id":"mission-5a397b8676ad6894559b","locator":"Modern chief names and protocol dates through Kenichiro Sasae; Historical diplomatic representation from 1891; Embassy raised in 1906, wartime interruption, reopening in 1952","publisher":"","title":"Diplomatic Representation for Japan","type":"Mission record","url":"https://2009-2017.state.gov/s/cpr/rls/94066.htm"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"","id":"mission-d06ff8044484a595cf4c","locator":"","publisher":"","title":"Kichisaburō Nomura — mission record (1941)","type":"Mission record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1931-41v01/directory"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"","id":"mission-d2ec93dcc6960bdbe8a8","locator":"","publisher":"","title":"Kichisaburō Nomura — mission record (1941)","type":"Mission record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1941v04/ch6"}],"topics":["naval diplomacy","Pearl Harbor","Pacific War negotiations","postwar politics"]},"schemaVersion":1}