Australia-Japan festival bridges cultural gap

Australia-Japan festival bridges cultural gap

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

How do Japanese people serve tea to their guests? How do
Australians and New Zealanders serve tea?

Indonesian Melissa Maria, a sixth semester student of the
Japanese language department at LIA college for foreign
languages, showed her audience how to perform Cha No Yu, the
classic Japanese way to serve special green tea.

"First you have to hold your body steady while you sit with
your knees bent and folded back," she claimed.

Ten minutes earlier, it was New Zealander Shane Boyd who
presented a different kind of tea ceremony called "Billy Tea",
which is done in Australia as well as his country.

The tea-serving exhibition was very lively, as it involved
swinging the tea pot several times. Different from the Japanese
tradition, generally tea is served with milk in Australia and New
Zealand, he said.

The Australian and Japanese tea ceremonies are among the
hundreds of cultural performances, scheduled to be presented from
Wednesday to Saturday at the school in South Jakarta.

The Aussie-Japan Festival also include a bilingual Romeo and
Juliet play. During the Shakespearean tragedy, Romeo delivers his
dialog in Japanese, while Juliet speaks in English.

"We aim to show that Indonesia, as a country located between
Japan and Australia, can bridge the differences that both
countries have," the festival's project officer, Caesar Rizqie,
said.

According to the college's director, Sudibyo Siyam, the
festival was meant to expose the culture of the two countries
that have the closest relations with Indonesia.

"We want to show the students the culture of these countries
for the sake of a cross-cultural understanding that we want to
develop among our students," he said.

In order to motivate the students to attentively observe each
performance, the college's administration had decided to give
their students four days off for the event.

"But they still have to come to the school and write a paper
about the performances," said Sri Suryanti Sugeng, the college's
deputy director for student affairs.

Representatives of the Australian and Japanese embassies, who
attended the opening ceremony on Wednesday, praised the college's
efforts at bridging the gap between their country's culture with
the Indonesian culture.

"We really appreciate this kind of festival because it could
create a peaceful environment among countries and could nurture
the relations between people in Australia, Japan, and, of course,
Indonesia," said Katsunishi Noriyuki, a representative of the
Japanese Embassy.

Meanwhile, Beverly Mercer, a cultural counselor for the
Australian embassy, said that this kind of festival could
minimize misunderstanding, which often occurs between Indonesians
and Australians and sometimes affects the countries'
relationship.

"It's good to see that the students here are learning both,
the Australian and Japanese cultures...And hopefully this will
lead to a greater understanding between the people of those
countries," she said. (006)