NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW – May 13, 2016 – JAKARTA – The annual “Ennichisai” arts and culture festival in Jakarta has grown to become the largest foreign culture festival in Indonesia since its debut in 2010, with organizers expecting 250,000 visitors this year.
The event has grown from roughly 50,000 attendees in its first year to around 170,000 last year. The Japanese festival, to be held on May 14-15, will feature 150 stalls and showcase performances by singer-songwriter Hiroaki Kato, pop band SAGA and female duo Faint Star.
Ennichisai is just the largest of an expanding list of Japanese-themed festivals in the country which together attract hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Event themes range from culinary, Japanese pop and soap operas (known colloquially as J-pop and J-drama, respectively), manga and anime exhibits to workshops on traditional crafts such as origami (folding paper into shapes), washi (making decorative rice paper), ikebana (flower arrangement) and kanzashi (making hair ornaments).
Japanese celebrities often make appearances at these events. Actors from tokusatsu — children’s programs made in the 1980s and 1990 such as “Ultraman” that incorporate special effects with live action – to current idols such as those from the popular AKB48 vocal group and Indonesian counterpart JKT48 draw in the crowds.
“Japanese fandom in Indonesia is often born as an extension of other kinds of fandom,” said Pujatamadi Alif Falsafahda, leader of the East Java division of the JKT48 fan club. “For instance, someone who used to like Western boy bands discovers Japanese idol groups and finds them more unique and eventually becomes obsessed with Japanese culture at large.”
Bran Vero, who co-founded a local fan club for the popular anime “Sailor Moon,” said that communities such as his play a crucial role, not only in attracting crowds to the events, but also handing down knowledge of anime to younger generations of Indonesian fans.
“Fan communities are vessels for fans who want to congregate with similarly obsessed fans, but also a hub for people who want to spread their passion with people who are not yet familiar with anime and manga,” Vero said.
Festivals galore
Last year, there were over 20 festivals dedicated to Japanese pop culture in Jakarta, including Anime Festival Asia, World Cosplay Fest, Anime Fest, Anime-Zap and CL:ASH. Most of them focused on Japanese animation and comics as well as the related cosplay (costume play) sub-culture where fans dress up as their favorite anime characters. This does not take into account the many other hobby conventions that prominently feature anime and manga brands.
The Matsuri festival had over 160 stalls at its latest edition in January, drawing more than 60,000 visitors. Anime Festival Asia will hold its fourth event in Indonesia this year, having attracted an average of 50,000 visitors and garnering widespread media coverage.
Nostalgia plays a powerful part in these events.
“Going to these festivals reminds us of that childhood feeling of falling in love with anime and manga. For Indonesians, there’s a distinctive memory there,” said Pingka, a representative of the “Bunka no Hi” festival held by foreign language center STBA LIA.
The roots of Indonesia’s Japanese obsession can be traced back to the late 1980s, when tokusatsu and anime TV series entered the country as bootlegged videos. The popularity of characters such as Google V, Saint Seiya, Voltes V, and Dragon Ball provided the foundation for Indonesians’ love of Japanese pop culture.
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, organizers were holding live tokusatsu shows in large concert halls, while major publishers such as Elex Media Komputindo published manga translated into Bahasa Indonesian. Indonesia now has the highest number of manga readers in the world after Japan and Finland, according to a report by TV program NTV Sekai Banzuke.
On the culinary front, there has also been growing interest in Japanese cuisine. Food directory app Zomato lists close to 1,000 Japanese restaurants in Jakarta, not including informal outlets such street stalls and food trucks. Major Japanese department store chains such as Sogo, Seibu, and Aeon have opened branches in Jakarta, with one new Aeon store attracting more than 1 million shoppers in its first month last year.
“In a way, Japan’s unique culture … has some elements that feel similar to Indonesian culture,” said Chemist Dikauna, a representative of Ennichisai 2016. “That’s why both young people and adults are interested in these festivals. It offers everything to different kinds of people.”
The sentiment is echoed by Vero, who said that Indonesia and Japan share a tradition based on “customs, love, friendship and struggle.”
Vero and his fan club counterparts often organize these festivals in collaboration with businesses and event managers. There is also increasing involvement by the Japanese embassy and tourism and cultural organizations in Indonesia. The Japan Foundation in Jakarta, for example, holds regular events, including film screenings, jazz concerts and traditional arts exhibits, while a three-day fashion-focused “Japan Wave Expo” in February was supported by the Japan External Trade Organization. Daiki Kasugahara, president-director of JETRO Indonesia, said such events act as a bridge between the fashion industry and business.
Diana S. Nugroho, a Japan Foundation representative in Jakarta, said the organization has received event and sponsorship proposals every week for the past 10 years. The proposals reveal that Indonesians are genuinely interested in Japan, she said. “Indonesia now has 900,000 Japanese language learners, which is the second largest [number] in the world.” This interest reflects how Japanese-themed festivals have promoted culture.
Another sign of growing interest is the rising number of Indonesian tourists to Japan, with the count rising 29.2% to 205,803 last year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.
Emi Takeya, who founded the Ennichisai festival, said her motivation was based on fandom, not business. Takeya said the ardent support of Indonesian fans for Japanese culture plays a major role in attracting curious locals and Japanese expatriates to the event.
“[Japanese expats here] are always surprised to see Indonesians appreciate their culture and having fun with Japanese-centric activities,” she said.