A native of Oita prefecture, Nakajima attended military preparatory schools as a youth, and graduated from the 15th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1903.

He was promoted to major general in April 1932 and was appointed commander of the Maizuru Army District, responsible for the defenses of Honshū’s coast along the Sea of Japan.

With the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Nakajima was appointed commander of the IJA 16th Division, and participated in the Second Shanghai Incident and operations in Hebei, China.

Nakajima personally loaned his sword to be used in the killings at Nanjing, and laughed as he and his men carried out the massacres.

[2] Nakaijma was subsequently at the Battle of Wuhan before being transferred to take command of the Japanese Fourth Army in Manchukuo from 1938 to 1939.