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span class="inline inline-left">Hearty handshake: Vice President Boediono (left) greets Japan’s Ambassador to Indonesia Yoshinori Katori during a birthday reception for Japanese Emperor Akihito at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Jakarta on Tuesday. Boediono also expressed his hope that Indonesia and Japan continued to maintain their good and strong relations. JP/ Jerry Adiguna Hundreds of guests, including Vice President Boediono, flocked to the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Central Jakarta to celebrate Japan’s Emperor Akihito’s 78th birthday. The guests also included former vice president Jusuf Kalla, Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa and Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu.

The guests were treated to a wide variety of traditional Japan cuisine such as sushi and tempura, and sake. At the event, Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia Yoshinori Katori described the bilateral relations between Japan and Indonesia as very dynamic.

He said that a milestone had been reached in 2006 when the two countries had enhanced their economic, political and security relations and addressed bilateral and global issues. Katori said that another milestone had been reached in 2008, when the two countries signed an economic partnership.

“In terms of trade, we are the number one partner of Indonesia,” Katori told The Jakarta Post at the celebration on Tuesday.

He added that in terms of investment, accumulative from 1990 until 2010, Japan was also the number one investor in Indonesia.

Katori said that there were many Japanese companies in Indonesia and that the number of Japanese people coming to Indonesia was increasing.

He said that he was planning to make a summit meeting in 2012 between Japan’s prime minister and the Indonesian President.

“We are pursuing the possibility of the visit of our Prime Minister to Indonesia,” Katori said. (drs)