His first accredited film, Pigeon (鳩, Hato), was released in 1952; his last, Kikenna Onna-tachi (危険な女たち), in 1985.

He was first hired as an assistant director but before being assigned any projects he was drafted into the army before being discharged in July 1946.

His 1974 thriller Castle of Sand, for which he won a diploma at the 9th Moscow International Film Festival in 1975,[2] is considered by many critics as his best work.

Nomura retired from directing in 1985, after which he worked as a TV producer and as consultant to other Japanese directors.

In 2014, the National Science and Media Museum in the UK organised a programme of five Nomura films, all of which were adaptations of Seichō Matsumoto stories.