Missile attack

"You're thinking, 'Oh my gosh, are we going to die? Is it really a missile (headed) our way, or is it just a test?'" the 24-year-old told CNN. "We really didn't know."

Minutes before, she'd received an ominous alert on her phone.

"BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

Azbell, her boyfriend and hundreds of other hotel guests were "herded like cows" into the basement by staff. "People are crying and people obviously were super scared," she said.

Japan’s Deputy Press Secretary for the Deputy-Director General for Press and Public Diplomacy, Masato Otaka, said they will always be ready to listen to the voices of the island countries.

Otaka told Loop PNG during a dialogue with Asia Pacific journalists that Japan is ready to assist with the needs of small island nations in the Asia Pacific region.

The journalists are in Japan as part of the 2017 Jefferson Fellowships program, organised by the East-West Center based in Honolulu, Hawaii.