Ambassador makes first visit to Bali

JAKARTA: Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia Yutaka Iimura has been serving in Indonesia for more than three years, but his first official visit to Bali was not until this week.

Japanese Embassy Minister Masafumi Kuroki said here on Tuesday that during his two-day visit on Thursday and Friday, Iimura would pay a courtesy call to several top officials, including Bali Governor Dewa Made Beratha, Bali Police chief Made Mangku Pastika and Commander of the Udayana Military Command Herry Tjahjana. Iimura also visited a Japanese Language School on Thursday.

He is scheduled to deliver a lecture at Udayana State University on Friday.

"I have no knowledge on what will be discussed by the ambassador and Bali officials. But they would certainly touch on current issues, like the Oct. 1 bombing and its impact on security and tourism," Kuroki was quoted by Antara as saying.

Kuroki said that the bombings in Kuta and Jimbaran, which killed 23 people, including three suicide bombers, had discouraged Japanese people from visiting Bali, which is dubbed the "Island of the Gods".

"The number of Japanese tourists has decreased, if compared to the situation before Oct. 1. But this year's decline in tourist numbers was not as sharp as that in the aftermath of the 2002 Bali bombings. After three years, the number of Japanese tourists in Bali had not increased to the pre-Oct. 2002 condition," he said, without providing any figures. -- JP