COMPLETION REPORT
Japan’s Public Diplomacy in Indonesia: A Case Study of the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange forStudents and Youth (JENESYS) Program
Ms. Indriana Kartini
ResearcherCenter for Political Studies - LIPI
Many powerful countries have begun to utilize soft power and redefine their diplomacy goals by using public
diplomacy, and Japan is one of them. Within this framework of public diplomacy, the Japanese government underPrime Minister Shinzo Abe launched the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youth(JENESYS) in 2007. Under this program, the Japanese government invites around 6000 youths from overseas tovisit Japan. Indonesia has participated in the JENESYS programme since its inception by sending many students toJapan.

This study examines Japan's public diplomacy in Indonesia, specifically by looking at the JENESYS
programme. It explores the background, rationale, and strategy of Japan's public diplomacy as evidenced bystudent exhanges with Indonesia through the JENESYS programme. The research method of this study isqualitative that take on the case study method. In doing so, field research was conducted to observe the researchcase, collect documents and written materials, and carry out in-depth interviews.
By using soft power perspectives, this study has shown that the JENESYS programme plays an effectiverole in creating strong solidarity among Indonesian and Japanese people and has led to positive perceptions ofJapan in Indonesia. This can be seen from Indonesian participants who joined the JENESYS programme statedthat they have friendly feelings towards Japanese people and cultures. Moreover, by having experience in visiting
Japan, they intend to visit Japan again, either for holiday or study in Japan university. This can be a social capitalfor Japanese government in the future, as this youth can be important persons or leaders in Indonesia in the futurethat can be beneficial for Japanese government as they have positive perceptions of Japan.
Examining the results, this study found that as the Japanese government has invested large amount offunding on the JENESYS programme, there were critics from Japanese public in regards to the short term
outcomes of the programme. Critics said that by sending high school and university students it would take a longtime for Japan to get the outcomes. Therefore, as a response to the critics, in 2015 the Japanese government
modified the participants of the programme by sending also professionals from Indonesia to visit Japan in hopingthat these professionals would become important persons or leaders in the near future.
In conclusion, it can be stated that the result of the programme has met the objectives of Japanese
government in creating strong Asian solidarity and positive perceptions of Japan.

Publication of the Results of Research Project:
Verbal Presentation (Date, Venue, Name of Conference, Title of Presentation, Presenter, etc.)
Date : November 8th, 2016, the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies (GSAPS), Waseda University
Name of Conference : Postgraduate Students Research Workshop
Title of Presentation : Japan's Public Diplomacy in Indonesia : A Case Study of the Japan-East Asia Network of
Exchange for Students and Youth (JENESYS) Programme
Presenter : Indriana Kartini

Thesis (Name of Journal and its Date, Title and Author of Thesis, etc.)
Book (Publisher and Date of the Book, Title and Author of the Book, etc.)