On March 3, 1941, the Japanese Association of New York possibly took the photo at a welcome party for Kichisaburo Nomura hosted at The Nippon Club. Centered on Nomura, Kuro Murase (second from the left) and the other executives and prominent figures of companies such as Bank of Japan, Mitsubishi Corporation, Okuragumi Company (now known as Taisei Corporation), Asano Bussan (aka Marubeni), and Mikimoto, the pearl company, can be seen lined up beside him. The photo also appeared on a page of “The Japanese American Review,” a newspaper published about Japanese Americans in New York at the time. In the center of the photo stands Kichisaburo Nomura, who was appointed as ambassador to the United States on February 11, 1941. He was entrusted to negotiate with Cordell Hull, the U.S. Secretary of State at the time, to avert war between the two countries. The picture was taken a month after his arrival to Washington D.C., and another 5 days later awaited his first conversation with Hull, a beginning to the numerous meetings that continued until the Pearl Harbor attack incident. Kuro Murase, the father of Jiro Murase, had emigrated to New York in 1911, marking the start of the Murase family’s life as Japanese Americans. Kuro Murase was a prominent figure in the Japanese community, as you can see him participating in key events at the time, such as the welcome party held for Admiral Takeshita on September 25, 1935.
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Jiro Murase
