Sonoda joined the
Japanese army in 1938, and served both in China and in the Pacific area during
World War II. from 20 December 1965 to 27 December 1966 and from 15 February 1967 to 25 November 1967. Within the LDP Sonoda was against the Nakasone faction and formed his own. He and the members of his faction joined the faction headed by Fukuda in 1972. However, he later left it and joined the faction headed by
Masayoshi Ōhira.
Minister of foreign affairs Sonoda served as minister of foreign affairs three times: in the cabinet of Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda from November 1977 to December 1978, in the cabinet of Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira from December 1978 to November 1979, and in the cabinet of Prime Minister
Zenko Suzuki from 17 May to 30 November 1981. During his first term in the ministry of foreign affairs, Japan signed the
treaty of peace and friendship with China.{{cite book|author=Hiroshi Kimura|title=Distant Neighbours: Japanese-Russian relations under Brezhnev and Andropov|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EnvDqF34KpIC&pg=PA228|year=2000|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0-7656-0585-6|volume=2 ==Personal life==