When Noda was 10 years old he accompanied his father who was working on an English vessel in the Nagasaki harbour.
[1][3] Sailing the Pacific for a few years, Noda finally disembarked in the New Zealand South Island port of Bluff in Invercargill, sometime in the 1880s-1890s.
After Rihi Tipene Te Ahu passed away around 1918, Noda later married Kathleen Brown (nee Edwards) and lived close to Batley, Maungaturoto.
It is noted that Noda and his family faced prejudice due to their mixed race heritage, with specific difficulty during both World Wars.
[7] Martin Noda was taken to an internment camp on Matiu Somes Island, Wellington, where he remained for four months.