Higuchi was born in what is now part of Minamiawaji City on Awaji Island, Hyōgo Prefecture, as the eldest of nine siblings.

[2] As a major general and the commander of the Japanese-occupied Chinese Harbin Special Branch in 1937-1938,[3] he, with the help of Yosuke Matsuoka, allowed 20,000 Jewish refugees who had fled Nazi Germany to cross the border from Otpor, USSR to Manzhouli (a city in the Japanese puppet state Manchukuo),[4] in an event which later became known as the Otpor Incident.

Higuchi's subordinates were responsible for feeding the refugees, settling them in Harbin or Shanghai, and arranging for exit visas.

General Hideki Tojo, then Chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, assented to Higuchi's view that the German policy against the Jews was a serious humanitarian concern.

[citation needed] Recalled to Japan in late 1938, Higuchi served briefly on the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff before being assigned as commanding officer of the IJA 9th Division in 1939.