J

apanese and Indonesian communities are joining hands to help people in Japan after the 8.9-magnitude quake and tsunami hit the nation on March 11.

The Indonesian-Japan Alumni Community (KAJI), an outfit under the Association of Indonesia Alumni from Japan (Persada), in collaboration with Nagaswara Artist Management, is expected to hold a concert titled “Kokoro No Tomo: One Heart for the Japan Charity Concert”, on Saturday, March 26, at the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology auditorium.

The concert will feature 20 bands, 12 of whom are managed by Nagaswara including Zivilia band, Baron Soulmate, Sophie Novita and bands consisting of alumni from Japan including Jakarta Keion Club, Galaxy Band, Kazu All Stars and Betterland.

“This concert is one of a few activities we have conducted since March 13 to help earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan,” concert organizing committee head Djono Karjadi said.

He said initial programs took the form of street fundraising on March 13 at Hotel Indonesia traffic circle. “There were only 15 of us at the time, but we received much support from the people who joined the Car Free Day and gave their donations,” he said.

The program deployed donation boxes to Japanese restaurants and office towers along the Jl. Thamrin-Sudirman thoroughfares. The program also sells “Pray for Japan” T-shirts and tuna cans.

So far KAJI has collected Rp 60 million (US$6,881) and expects Rp 200 million from the Saturday concert.

Concert tickets are available for Rp 50,000, which will be sold online and at the box office. The program will also hold simultaneous concerts at Torigen Restaurant in Bandung and at Yogyakarta Expo Center.

“Funds collected from those events will be given to the Japan Red Cross and Dompet Dhuafa,” said KAJI vice chairman Mariko Asmara.

“It does not matter how much money we get from the concert, but we want to send a message to our friends in Japan that we care about them,” KAJI chairman Fuad Kadir said.

Meanwhile, the J-Pop fan community that called themselves InoArashi (Indonesian Arash, the name of a J-Pop boyband) has so far collected $405 to victims.

“We raised funds over one week only from March 13 to March 20, considering the urgency of the condition in Japan,” forum.inoarashi.com administrator Vicky Fitriah said.