INDONESIA

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On March 2, 2015, the International School Network visited the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Tokyo, Japan to interview the Ambassador, His Excellency Dr. Yusron IHZA MAHENDRA. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising 13,466 islands. Indonesia has a total population of more than 215 million people from more than 200 ethnic groups. Indonesia is the world's fourth-most-populous country.

The Ambassador told us about history between Japan and Indonesia. Indonesia was a colony for 300 years from 17th century. During The World War 2 in 1942, Japan released Indonesia from Dutch colony. When Japan defeated the World War 2, Dutch soldiers came back and invaded Indonesia again. 3000 of Japanese soldiers remained in Indonesia, and trained Indonesian soldiers who did not know how to fight. Japanese solders lead the Indonesian soldiers and succeeded to Indonesian independence. The Ambassador also told us The Russo-Japanese War (1904 – 1905) encouraged Indonesian nationalism. Therefore most of Indonesian people are sympathizers for Japan.

These are the photos of the front gate of indonasian embassy and in the entrance hall of the embassy.

Mythical Garuda Carvings and a huge beautiful mural decoration with woodcarving are behind us on the right photo.

We exchange our cards to The Ambassador His Excellency Dr. Yusron IHZA MAHENDRA, Mr. Spardo, and Ms. Sayu Oka Widani. The ambassador, Mr.Saprdo, and Ms. Sayu Oka Widani gave us their card to each of us.

This is a group photo of this interview. The Ambassador His Excellency Dr. Yusron IHZA MAHENDRA is in the middle, and the principal of Tokyo Indonesian School, Mr. Spardo is on the right, First Secretary Information, Socio-Cultural Section Ms. Sayu Oka Widani is next to the principal.

The Ambassador His Excellency Dr. Yusron IHZA MAHENDRA studied and obtained a Master of Law (LL.M) and Doctorate (Ph.D) on International Political Economy at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. Therefore the Ambassador speaks Japanese fluently which made us surprised.

The Ambassador explained us that "Unity in Diversity" is the one of national mottos of Indonesia. Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world comprising 13,466 large and small tropical islands and the population is more than 215 million from more than 200 ethnic groups. Each ethnic group has different dialects, but still they are unified to be same Indonesians. Their patriotic spirit is coming from their history of their independence movement.

We interviewed His Excellency Dr. Yusron IHZA MAHENDRA, Mr. Spardo, and Ms. Sayu Oka Widani. They told us about many kinds of interesting facts about Indonesia. They answered our questions clearly and specificly.

Ms. Sayu Oka Widani explained us about music education in Indonesia. The children in Indonesia are learning music from very young age, and naturally learning at home, too. She showed us the traditional instrument, Angklung and played it at the entrance of the embassy. The music of the natural bamboo sounds like the beautiful ethnical wind which took us to the mood of Indonasian islands.

Mr. Spardo told us about how big indonesia is and the tourist attraction in each place in Indonesia. He also told us about the wild animals, and natures in Indonesia. He also explained that Bali is the most famous resort in the world, but Indonesia has much more beautiful islands, such as Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Komodo, the Maluku Islands and Papua. He introduced us The Komodo dragon; biggest lizard in the world, Oran Gutan; the smartest apes, and the world biggest flower, Rafflesia. And there is untouched nature. Mr. Spardo knows everything about Indonesia.

Here is the twitter page of Indonasian Embassy when we interviewed the ambassador.

The Ambassador gave us a plaque for cordial relations between Indonesia and Japan. There is the National emblem of Indonesia on the plaque which is called Garuda Pancasila. The main part of Indonesian national emblem is the Garuda with a heraldic shield on its chest and a scroll gripped by its legs. The shield's five emblems represent Pancasila, the five principles of Indonesia's national ideology. The Garuda claws gripping a white ribbon scroll inscribed with the national motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika written in black text, which can be loosely translated as "Unity in Diversity".

Haruka and I took a picture in front of the model of the temple. The embassy staff kindly prepared lunch boxes for us to take home. We were deeply impressed with their thoughtfullness. This is the picture of "NASI CAMPUR". There was also another type of lunch which is called "NASI GORENG". They are traditional Indonesian food. The lunch boxes are from the Indonesian Restaurant, "CABE RESTAURANT", located in Meguro. We would like to visit and eat again!

(Reported by Karen Nishina)