From the start, Tokushichi had no intention of restricting the business of the Osaka Nomura Bank to ordinary commercial banking. During the long planning stage, two elements had come together to convince Tokushichi that his bank would specialize in the underwriting of public bonds and corporate debentures: first, the huge increase in bond issues by both the government and private industry, which Tokushichi foresaw as a permanent feature of Japan's financial scene rather than merely a response to the special needs of the 1914-1918 period; second, his knowledge of the highly developed secondary bond markets in America and Europe.
