Japan Explores Tourism and Labour Cooperation in NTB
The Japanese Consul General, Miyakawa Katsutoshi, met with NTB Governor Lalu Muhamad Iqbal to explore opportunities for cooperation in various sectors. During the meeting, Japan expressed interest in developing tourism and labour in NTB Province.
Miyakawa revealed that, in addition to tourism and labour, his country is also eyeing potential cooperation in energy, industry, and marine resources in the waters of Bumi Gora. However, this visit is still in the early stages to understand the region’s potential before proceeding to concrete cooperation.
“We discussed a lot about tourism, labour, energy, and industry. We exchanged many ideas,” he said on Monday (20/4/2026).
He assessed that the opportunities for cooperation between Japan and NTB are quite broad. Nevertheless, further discussions are needed with various parties, both at the NTB Provincial Government level and the Japanese Government.
“I think there is a lot of potential for cooperation. We must first talk with the relevant agencies, then with the Japanese government as well,” he said.
Miyakawa added that the labour sector is one of the main focuses. Japan is currently facing a shortage of productive-age workers. On the other hand, NTB’s tourism potential is also seen as promising for development.
“We’ll see. We still need discussions,” he said.
At the same location, the Head of the NTB Regional Planning and Development Agency (Bappeda), Baiq Nelly Yuniarti, said that Miyakawa’s visit is the first since he took office as Japanese Consul General. She described the meeting as an initial step to open up broader collaboration opportunities.
“He came to first understand what NTB’s potentials are. Then steps for cooperation will be taken,” Nelly said.
According to her, Japan is also interested in marine resource potential, including the possibility of exporting fishery products from NTB. In the meeting, the Japanese side inquired about distribution routes and ports that could be used to support export activities.
Nelly assessed that opportunities for cooperation between Japan and NTB are open through a sister province scheme. This scheme allows relationships between regions in Indonesia and prefectures or provinces in Japan.
“This cooperation model has previously been implemented in several regions such as DKI Jakarta and East Java. And the governor has expressed NTB’s readiness to explore a sister province. It just remains to see which province would be suitable,” Nelly said.
The former Head of the NTB Trade Office added that Japan’s interest in NTB is also influenced by the relatively low number of Japanese residents in NTB compared to Bali. However, this condition is seen as an opportunity to introduce NTB’s potential more widely to Japanese investors and tourists.
“So now he sees there is a difference; according to his data, the number of Japanese citizens living or staying in NTB is only 76 people, while in Bali it’s nearly hundreds of thousands,” Nelly emphasised.