Ambassador makes first visit to Bali

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