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The House of Nomura: The Rise to Power of the World's Wealthiest Company: the Inside Story of the Legendary Japanese Dynasty

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The House of Nomura is the true story of a dynasty, and

the tale told here is on an epic scale. The story begins in

the nineteenth century with Tokushichi Nomura I, the

bastard son of a noble family living in rural Japan, and

ends with insider trading and global political powerbroking

in the late l980s.

It is the story of the creation of the most powerful

company in the world, Nomura Securities, a firm so

wealthy it could buy up every stockbroking house in

London, merely with its own resources. Nomura’s

stranglehold on Japan’s financial markets is so strong that

Ministry of Finance officials consult the company on all

major policy decisions. While the interests of Nomura are

those of the Japanese government, its penetration of the

US bond market is such that were Nomura to cease

purchasing US treasury bonds, the American economy

would be at grave risk.

The House of Nomura reveals how this frightening

concentration of power has come about and how it is

wielded in the interests of Japan. It also lays bare the

incestuous links between politicians, stockbrokers,

bureaucrats and businessmen — the very links that toppled

the Japanese government in 1989.

The author is the first Westerner to have been granted

access to the fanilly papers of the Nomura dynasty, and,

by means of exclusive interviews with Tokushichi’s

descendants, he recreates in fascinating detail the

colourful personalities and dazzling lifestyles of the family

in pre-war Japan, its rise to power, its sudden decline and

its dramatic resurgence to supremacy.