Inoue Kaoru
On October 28, Inoue Kaoru, Minister for Foreign Affairs for Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi's first cabinet, received a telegram from Matsumoto Kanae, Governor of Wakayama Prefecture, briefly outlining the events surrounding the shipwreck. He was alarmed by the fact that all the Japanese passengers were lost, and ordered an investigation of the situation on the spot. However, Japanese officials were hindered in their efforts to verify the facts of the incident by the legal barriers imposed by the unequal treaties. Reportedly, they were never able to reach a satisfactory end to their investigation.