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City names idol group JKT48 as tourism ambassador
The Jakarta administration has chosen popular female idol group JKT48 as the cityâs tourism ambassador
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T
he Jakarta administration has chosen popular female idol group JKT48 as the city's tourism ambassador.
JKT48 (Jakarta48) is a local version of Japan-based idol group AKB48 (Akihabara48). It has a cult following of male fans fascinated by the cute group. Most of JKT48's music is directed by Japanese producer Yasushi Akimoto.
Culture and Tourism Agency head Arie Budhiman said they had been selected because of their popularity and fresh and young image.
The age of JKT48's fifty something members ranges from 14 to 23 years old.
'The city administration recently signed a memorandum of understanding [MoU] with JKT48's management. The idol group has agreed to promote Jakarta overseas. JKT48 has a fresh and young image. They also have a good spirit to promote Jakarta,' Arie told reporters at the City Hall in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.
He said the MoU signing took place Tuesday in the Culture and Tourism Agency office in Kuningan, South Jakarta, with himself as the agency's head and Harris Thajeb as CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Indonesia.
Arie added that JKT48 was also chosen due to their popularity in Japan.
'JKT48 is the Indonesian version of AKB48. The latter is very popular in Japan. We hope that AKB48's popularity will rub off on JKT48. We will use their popularity in Japan to attract more tourists to Jakarta,' he said.
Arie said that currently Japan was one of the countries with the most tourists in Indonesia.
According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), 491,575 Japanese tourists visited Indonesia out of the total 8.8 million tourists last year. The number of Japanese tourists to Indonesia peaked in 2008 with 546,713 tourists. This declined to 475,766 in 2009 and continued to decline until 2011, before rising again in 2012 to 450,687 tourists.
In 2013, Japan was among the top five countries with the most tourists visiting Indonesia, losing out to Singapore (1.6 million), Malaysia (1.4 million), Australia (997,984) and the People's Republic of China (807,429).
Arie said that his agency aimed to promote Jakarta's culture in Japan.
'Japan has the Matsuri festival in Jakarta. I think that maybe we could also conduct a similar festival in Japan where we could promote Indonesia's culture. I will propose this to [Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama] Pak Ahok so we can conduct a Jakarta festival in Tokyo,' he said.
The Jak-Japan Matsuri festival is an annual festival organized by the Japanese Embassy in Jakarta, which this year was held at Parkir Timur Senayan arena in South Jakarta.
The festival, which featured various Japanese foods, games, costumes and movie screenings, attracted tens of thousands of locals who are interested in Japanese culture.
The festival successfully promoted Japanese culture to the Indonesian youth.
'Thus far, we have always targeted families for our tourism. With JKT48, we would like to attract younger people. More and more young people go on backpacking trips with their friends,' Arie said.
He went on that JKT48 could not only increase the number of Japanese tourists, but would also strengthen bilateral relations between Indonesia and Japan.
JKT48's first official duty as Jakarta's tourism ambassador is to visit Tokyo in November to promote Jakarta.
'In November, we will introduce them in Tokyo as Jakarta's tourism ambassador with our tagline, 'Enjoy Jakarta',' Arie said.
