Nozoe Tetsuo was born in Sendai, Japan on the 16th of May 1902. At the age of 21, he enrolled into a chemistry course at the Tohoku Imperial University in the department of chemistry.[33] After his graduation in March 1926, Nozoe stayed on as a research assistant but soon left Sendai for Formosa (Currently known as Taiwan) at the end of June 1926.[34]