Japan Cultural Center nurses 15 years of good feeling
Japan Cultural Center nurses 15 years of good feeling
By Ati Nurbaiti
JAKARTA (JP): Big buckets of red and yellow flowers have
arrived along with various stalks of green and orange. A few
Indonesian women crowd around the door of a classroom in the
Japan Cultural Center in the Summitmas Building on Jl. Sudirman.
"I want to get the best ones," states one student of a
Japanese flower arrangement class, Ikebana, which is held every
Friday.
"I don't care if I'm not talented, what's important is it's
fun," says Lila, another student.
Cultural centers are indeed places for fun. They provide an
interesting, relaxed exposure to other cultures away from boring
school lectures.
But does the common Jakartan lack exposure to things Japanese?
Japanese electronic appliances, vehicles, cuisine and cartoons
abound, and Indonesians are constantly reminded to emulate the
hard-working Japanese while preserving local traditions. Not
everyone likes this.
"Some people cynically ask why we learn everything Japanese,"
says ikebana teacher Mrs. Aulia MA.
"But we should be free to learn anything from anywhere,
including Japan."
The center has been in Jakarta for 15 years, but the man in
charge feels that Indonesians still don't know enough about
Japan.
"We still need to promote the traditional aspects of Japan
here," asserted Ikuo Nishida. Indonesians also often ask about
Japanese families and how they live, he added.
The Cultural Center was set up in Japan in 1972 by the Japan
Foundation.
Jakarta was the first site picked by the Foundation for an
overseas center, it began operating in 1980.
Surely this must have had something to do with the Japanese
occupation of 1942-1945, or the 1974 student demonstrations
against then Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka?
Nishida insists that "there is no direct relation." Until the
1970s the Japanese, he admits, "placed too much importance in
economic relations, and forgot that social and cultural relations
are very important in understanding one another."
Jakarta was picked as the first site for cultural centers
abroad because of the "very good economic relations" between the
two countries, says Nishida.
Yoshiharu Kato, the second secretary at the Embassy of Japan,
stressed that Japan has been responding to critics here and in
other countries, that "Japanese products are everywhere but their
faces are invisible."
Kato says there are still doubts that it was resentment of
Japanese investors that led to the 1974 riots, but the incident
provided a good lesson in sensitivity.
Ethics
"The Japanese public urged the government to issue codes of
ethics to all Japanese companies operating abroad, to provide
guidelines in how to respect local customs and religion," Kato
said.
Indonesia is now listed number one in Southeast Asia according
to the quantity of cultural activities organized by the Center,
and number three in the world after the United States and China.
The Japan Foundation spends an average of Rp 11 billion a year
for activities in Indonesia, says Nishida.
Last year activities in several cities included packed public
exhibitions by Japanese experts on kendo martial arts, origami,
gift wrapping and kite making.
With the increasing demand to study the Japanese language, the
Center has set up its own language study center.
"Indonesia now ranks fourth in the world in the number of
people studying Japanese," notes Nishida, predicting 50,000
students by the end of 1994.
But, because the center's task is to promote cultural
exchange, how well do the Japanese know Indonesians?
A few programs indicate the center's efforts. Indonesian films
like Tjoet Nya' Dien gained a wide response to the exhilaration
of its leading star, Christine Hakim. The rest of the Indonesian
Film Festival in 1993 comprised almost 40 films. The center has
also enabled the Japanese public to come into direct contact with
visiting Indonesian writers, dancers and other artists.
When it comes to a real study of the other's culture, a long
time professor of Japan says Indonesians have yet to catch up.
"Once the Japanese show earnest interest, they study a subject
thoroughly," says Wiwi Martalogawa who was one of the first
Indonesian students to benefit from a scholarship from the Japan
Foundation.
She illustrated her point with one of her guests, a
nutritionist, who was curious why Indonesians liked rice crackers
(kerupuk) so much and eventually succeeded in making them.
Outside the center, many private groups foster Japanese-
Indonesian relations. The professor said she has encountered
veteran soldiers of World War II, who help locate lost
acquaintances among Japanese and Indonesians.
The Ikebana International organization has 20 members in
Jakarta. An alumni organization of former students in Japan, set
up by students who graduated in the 1950s, also promotes
exchanges, especially through the private Dharma Persada
University.
The two countries' wish, expressed earlier by delegates to the
Japan-Indonesia Forum on Culture in 1993, may well come true: a
people-to-people relationship and an exchange of cultures rather
than only an exchange of goods.