(FORTUNE Magazine) – Around the time Max Chapman Jr. was born, his father was fighting at Guadalcanal and later Okinawa. Now this son of a career Marine, himself a onetime leatherneck, has been recruited to lead the Japanese assault on Wall Street as co-chairman of Nomura Securities' U.S. operations. Does his father see any irony here? ''No,'' says the younger Chapman. ''He is a very realistic, pragmatic person.'' So is Chapman fils, a 20-year Kidder Peabody veteran who left the presidency of the firm after the GE brass passed him over for the CEO's job in January. GE wanted Kidder to specialize in leveraged buyouts, while Chapman wanted to keep the investment banking outfit diversified. Among Japan's Big Four brokerages, Nomura has had the hardest time attracting and keeping top-caliber Americans. Headhunters say that landing Chapman, 46, is a real coup. But his former colleagues have their doubts about the match. They describe him as ''direct,'' ''aggressive,'' and ''macho.'' Says one: ''I don't see Max bowing to those guys or wanting to waste time with some sort of consensus management.'' But even Chapman's critics concede that his knack for applying computer-driven quantitative analysis will fit in well at Nomura. He wants to create unique products for Nomura, so it will have an advantage over more entrenched U.S. firms. Banzai.