Nomura studied at the art department of the Nihon University and in 1968 joined the Daiei films studio in Kyoto as an assistant director. He worked with directors such as Nagisa Oshima, Kenji Misumi, Kazuo Mori and Satsuo Yamamoto. In 1971 he started making films on his own and made many commercial films. Then he founded his production house, Nomura Planning. His films include Mori no Mukogawa (The Other Side of the Forest, 1988), Manatsu no Shonen (A Boy in High Summer, 1991), The Hollywood (1998), Futari biyori (Turn Over - An Angel Is Coming On a Bicycle, 2004) and Ozu's Autumn (2007).