Junichiro Koizumi
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was notified of the firings on July 5 at 3:52 am, local time. Top Japanese officials, including Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe and Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga, each were notified at about the same time. By 4:50 am they had met at the prime minister's official residence to discuss a Japanese response. Junichiro Koizumi entered his office at 6:30 am, and U.S. ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer arrived twenty minutes later for discussions.