Japan cancels travel warning revision

DENPASAR, Bali: The impending U.S. attack on Iraq has prompted the Japanese government to cancel its plan to downgrade its travel advisory on Indonesia.

Japanese Consul General in Denpasar, Bali Kaoru Hatta said on Thursday that the Japanese government had planned to revise the travel warning by the end of February but the current political climate did not allow it.

"I have tried several times (to ask the Japanese government) to downgrade the travel advisory for the sake of Bali's recovery, but the condition of international politics is not so conducive, especially the U.S. plan to attack Iraq," Kaoru Hatta said.

The number of Japanese tourists visiting Bali before the Bali terrorist attack stood at 55,000 per year or around 4,600 monthly. The figure, however, fell by 50 percent after the Oct. 12 bombing, which killed 202 people and injured over 350 others. --JP