Pete Hegseth is an American government official and former television personality who serves as the U.S. Secretary of War, i.e., the cabinet official in charge of the Department of War (formerly the Department of Defense) and the overall civilian leader of the U.S. military. He has held this post since January 25, 2025, as the 29th U.S. secretary of defense/war.
Shinjiro (Shinjirō) Koizumi is a Japanese politician from the Liberal Democratic Party who has served as Japan’s Minister of Defense since October 21, 2025. As defense minister, he is the civilian head of Japan’s Ministry of Defense and is responsible for overall defense policy, budgeting and planning, and the supervision of the Japan Self-Defense Forces under Japan’s constitution and security laws.
The specific Pentagon press story you provided does not list the discussion topics, and the detailed transcript and readout on war.gov are access‑restricted. Public reporting around Koizumi’s U.S. visit and earlier Hegseth–Koizumi readouts indicates that their talks generally focus on the U.S.–Japan alliance, deterrence against China (including air and maritime activities around Japan), realistic joint training and exercises in and around Japan (including the Southwest Islands), and Japan’s plans to increase defense spending and capabilities—but we cannot say exactly which of these were discussed in this particular bilateral meeting based on currently accessible documents.
Typical U.S.–Japan defense meetings like this are meant to: (1) reaffirm the importance of the U.S.–Japan alliance and mutual defense commitments; (2) coordinate on regional security challenges, especially China’s military activities, North Korea’s missiles and nuclear program, and stability in the wider Indo‑Pacific; (3) discuss Japan’s defense buildup (such as higher defense spending, new capabilities, and export rules) and how it meshes with U.S. force posture; and (4) plan or review joint training, exercises, and operational coordination. Expected outcomes are usually joint statements or readouts that stress alliance unity and may reference ongoing or planned initiatives, rather than major new treaties each time.
According to the brief war.gov news story, no specific agreements, announcements, or joint statements are mentioned in connection with this visit, and the detailed transcript and readout pages on war.gov are currently access‑restricted. Based on publicly viewable material, there is no evidence that this particular bilateral meeting produced a publicly announced new agreement beyond reaffirming the alliance in general terms.
The U.S. Department of War has posted a short news story, an advisory, and a transcript entry for this engagement, but the detailed transcript and some readouts are access‑restricted:
The title “Secretary of War” is being used because the U.S. government formally renamed the Department of Defense back to the historical “Department of War” under a 2025 presidential action. That order explicitly restored the older name to signal a more overt focus on war‑fighting and deterrence. Pete Hegseth was originally sworn in as the 29th secretary of defense in January 2025 and then became known as Secretary of War after the department’s name change.