Japan club blends community and business

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

On any given day, the Jakarta Japan Club in the Skyline Building on Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta is a beehive of activity. Middle-aged women browse through Japanese videos in the library, while in the club's office executives prepare business proposals and engage in serious discussion.

The Jakarta Japan Club (JJC) gives its members a space to meet and relax. The club also arranges an array of activities, ranging from sports competitions to business luncheons.

The JJC, established in 1970 as Japanese investors began to arrive in large numbers in Indonesia, now has 407 corporate members and 2,937 individual members, according to the club's deputy chairman, Tetsu Yagi.

Yagi said the club was divided into two divisions: a corporate division that deals with Japanese corporate affairs in Indonesia and the individual division, which caters to the needs of individual members.

The club's office in the Skyline Building serves as an information center for Japanese businesspeople and their families.

To meet the needs of all of its members, the JJC has various facilities such as a library in its office and a sports club in Sunter, North Jakarta.

The club's office is also a venue for its corporate members to meet and exchange experiences.

JJC's corporate members come from a variety of business sectors.

"However, most of our members are in the automobile and electronics industries," Yagi said. (003)