Snapshots Of Old Japan In Jakarta

A1990s-era portrait shows two children with their eyes glued to a television screen while playing video game Nintendo 64, while another shows a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony in a rural village in the 1970s. Y et other photos show the skyscraper-dominated city of Tokyo in the 1980s, and a still life of pale pink Sakura flowers taken in 2002.

Held by the Japan Foundation, “Gazing at the Contemporary World: Japanese Photography from the 1970s to the Present” displays 76 shots by 23 Japanese photographers.

Established in 1972, the foundation promotes international understanding between Japan and other countries via cultural exchange programs.

“A Changing Society” focuses on the individuals that make up Japanese society, displaying a collection that allows the viewer to see the Japanese departing from their traditional ways of life in an age of modernity. With people as the central subjects as they go about the business of their everyday lives, the section includes people from all strata of society. In a traditional scene, an old river fisherman puffs on a cigarette before a background of tall grass in a black and white photo by Manchuria-born Kazuo Kitai. “River Fisherman” (1975) is taken from the series “To the village,” which won the Kimura Ilhee Award in 1976.

Mitsugu Ohnishi won the 18th Kimura Ihee Award in 1993 for his photographic series “The Last Vacation,” which according to the photographer, “is a picture diary of a random summer of the 1980s.”

One picture has a group of swimmers in uniform swimsuits being briefed on the beach, while another displays a couple sunbathing.

“Rainy Sunday” by George Hashiguchi shows two permed and coiffed young men in suits crouching on the pavement under umbrellas.

“Changing Landscapes,” the second part of the exhibition, emphasizes the impact of Japan’s rapid economic growth in the 1970s on the country’s landscapes.

Photographers immortalize the changes evident in the cities, suburbs and in nature.

Award-winning Ryuji Miyamoto has memorialized the devastating Great Hansin earthquake that took place in Kobe in 1995, and which claimed more than 6,000 lives. His “Kobe Ekimae Building” shows the wrecked facade of multi-story building.

Giving a face to modernity, Tokudo Ushioda’s “Ice Box” series shows pictures of refrigerators filled with items ranging from milk cartons to eggs, and somewhat insinuates the marriage between the advent of modern technology and the age of consumerism. A picture of a concrete dam, which control erosion and water flow in the Japanese mountains, was photographed by structure-specialist Toshio Shibata. Writing about his series called “Quintessence of Japan,” Shibata said that he focused on the contrast between nature and human action, and also the peculiar formal beauty of structures.

In the exhibition’s book, Rei Masuda, a curator at the National Museum of Art in Tokyo, wrote, “The work of the 23 photographers gathered here does not fully represent Japanese photographic expression since the 1970s, but we don’t intend to trace its entire historical development through the categories of figure and landscape.”

Skipping Breakfast

a Life-Saving Decision for All-Star Squad

The team picked to play Manchester United on Monday woke up at Jakarta’s JW Marriott Hotel at 6 a.m. and assembled in the lobby before departing for a morning training session at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

It was to be an extremely important training session because, just three days later, they were to face one of the best teams in the game.

But the team’s management decided the players should skip breakfast at the hotel and instead took them to the Sultan Hotel, which is closer to the stadium, at 6:30 a.m.

Just after the training session ended, they heard the news that bomb blasts had hit the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, where the Manchester United squad was scheduled to stay during its Jakarta tour.

“We left the hotel around 6:30 a.m. for Senayan, so we were all safe and in good condition,” assistant coach Sudirman said in a telephone interview. “We didn’t know about the incident and I just heard this from [the Jakarta Globe].”

National team striker Budi Sudarsono said he was shocked but glad they decided to leave for training earlier.

The blasts at the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton, located next to each other in the Mega Kuningan business district in the capital, blew out windows and scattered debris and glass across the street, kicking up a thick plume of smoke. The facades of both hotels were reduced to twisted metal.

Nine people were reported dead, with more than 50 others injured. “Thank God, we already left the hotel. Now, we’re staying at the Sultan Hotel but our belongings are still at the Marriott,” Budi said.

The incident prompted the England Premier League champion, which arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, to cancel its Jakarta stop.

The Indonesian players understood the decision but still regretted it. “The game is a one-in-a-million chance, playing against the world’s best players,” defender Isnan Ali said. “I clearly understand why they made the decision, but I don’t know if I will ever have the chance to play against them again in my career.”

The squad will temporarily remain at the Sultan Hotel. Wimbo Satwiko & Sandy Pramuji

Can’t Wait to Chase Newmont

State Enterprises

“We will ask the Finance Ministry to prioritize state enterprises for the Newmont stake,” said Sofyan Djalil, the state enterprise minister. “If the [president] gives the nod, then our companies will talk directly to Newmont.”

The State Enterprises Ministry had sent a letter in May asking for priority to be given to state enterprises, but the Finance Ministry gave no commitment at the time. Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Thursday that the government and Newmont had reached a deal valuing the 14 percent stake in PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT), the operator of Batu Hijau, at $493.6 million, based on an entire company valuation of $3.52 billion.

This represented a victory of sorts for the government, which had been holding out for an NNT valuation of $3.42 billion, against Newmont’s estimate of $3.65 billion. Newmont Mining holds a 45 percent stake in NNT, with Sumitomo and other Japanese investors controlling 35 percent and local company PT Pukuafu Indah holding the remainder. Under a contract signed with the government in 1986, Newmont and the other overseas investors are required to divest 49 percent of the company to the state in tranches up to 2010. The 14 percent stake represents two 7 percent tranches that were supposed to have been offered to the government in 2008 and 2009.

Muhammad Said Didu, the secretary to the State Enterprises Ministry, said that state-owned firms have the money to purchase the Newmont stake and were definitely interested in NNT’s copper and gold mining operation in West Nusa Tenggara,

“We are now ready and willing to purchase up to 21 percent of the shares in order to be able to put our people in strategic positions on the board of directors,” he said, referring to the 14 percent stake currently on offer, plus a further 7 percent that must be divested by Newmont next year. He added: “If we only get 7 percent or 14 percent that would mean that we would only get one commissioner, who would be able to do nothing.”

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said on Thursday that the final decision would be made by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

At least five potential buyers have expressed an interest in the NNT stake, including a consortium of three local governments from West Nusa Tenggara backed by PT Multicapital, which is owned by companies controlled by the family of Aburizal Bakrie, the coordinating minister for people’s welfare.

State-owned enterprises, including miners PT Aneka Tambang, PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam and PT Timah have also expressed interest.

Terror Returns

Terror Returns: Nine Killed in Jakarta Blasts

As bombs ripped into two of Jakarta’s most prestigious hotels, the specter of Indonesian terrorism once again cast its long shadow around the world. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the “cruel, inhuman and irresponsible bombing.” “These actions are likely to have been conducted by terrorist groups, although it is uncertain whether they are from the terrorist network that we are already familiar with,” Yudhoyono said, in a clear reference to Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which has been blamed for a string of attacks going back to the Bali bombings in 2002, which killed 202 people. The group was also blamed for the 2003 suicide bomb attack on the JW Marriott hotel that left 12 dead. In Friday’s attack, which occurred shortly before 8 a.m., bombers blew themselves up at two neighboring upscale hotels, the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton, leaving at least nine dead, including some foreigners, and more than 50 wounded. “According to our preliminary site examination, they were suicide bombings,” National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said. “We are trying to identify the two suicide bombers. The first, found at the Ritz-Carlton, is easier to identify than the suspect we found at the Marriott.” Yudhoyono said the attacks were an attempt to set the country back. “What we have built for the past five years, with hard work and the sweat of the entire Indonesian people, once again has to suffer from jolts and regression,” he said. Indonesia had in recent years grown increasingly secure, he said, allowing the economy to progress and helping to heal the country’s image abroad. Democracy had flourished, respect for human rights was spreading, and the country was starting to play a greater role on the international stage. A senior National Police officer told the Jakarta Globe that a third man was involved in the attacks. Police believe the three were linked to JI. “They came [to the Marriott] looking just like hotel guests, neatly dressed, on Friday morning. Nobody suspected them, even a hotel security guard who let them in though the metal detector sounded when they passed with their bags and suitcase,” the officer said. The suspects had booked a room on the 18th floor from Wednesday under the name Nur Rusdi, which is believed to be a fake name. “A couple of minutes after they checked into their room, they left again. Before leaving, they activated a bomb, setting the bomb to explode in the room later, but, thank God, it failed to detonate,” the officer said. One of three men went into the Marriott’s Sailendra restaurant toting a bag and a suitcase, and detonated a bomb there at 7:47 a.m. Another went to the Airlangga restaurant at the nearby Ritz-Carlton and blew himself up there 10 minutes later. The whereabouts of the third suspect are still unknown, he said. Police said six bodies were later found at the Marriott and two others at the Ritz-Carlton. Fifty-three people were wounded and taken to hospitals. Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Wahyono said police found and dismantled a third bomb containing black powder, ball bearings and bolts, in a room on the 18th floor at 11 a.m. “These bombs appear to carry Azahari Husin’s trademark. He always used bolts to maximize the damage,” a top antiterror police officer told the Globe, referring to a key Malaysian terrorist shot dead during a police raid in Batu, East Java, in November 2005. Azahari is believed to have taught others how to make explosive devices. Bambang said the police were searching for a man identified only by his initial, N, but declined to say whether JI was behind the blasts. He did say that bombs at both crime scenes were similar to those found at a house in Cilacap, Central Java, on Tuesday. Police believe the daughter of the house owner was married to Noordin M Top, another key Malaysian terrorist suspect still on the loose. “We, as a nation, as a state and as a people, should not be defeated and surrender to the terrorists,” Yudhoyono said. “We should not allow extremist violence and other crimes to continue to grow in this country.”

Red Devils Head to Asia for Preseason Tour

Alex Ferguson’s men headed for Kuala Lumpur on Thursday on a trip that will see them play a Malaysian XI on Saturday before traveling to Jakarta to take on an Indonesian All-Star team on Monday. They move to South Korea for a match against FC Seoul on July 24 then to Hangzhou in China two days later.

Despite banking 80 million pounds ($131 million) for selling Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, Ferguson has restricted his summer buying spree to Owen, on a free transfer, Wigan’s Antonio Valencia and Bordeaux’s Gabriel Obertan. All three are set to be showcased in a region where Premier League football has a huge following, with an estimated 50,000 fans alone due to watch the team train in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

For the club, it is as much a business trip as preseason preparations, with significant television revenues earned from Premier League games shown in Asia.

“Our fans in Asia generate money for the club, there are no two ways about it,” said United chief executive David Gill, adding that their fanatical Asian support was like nowhere else.

“The reception United get in Asia is unlike anywhere else on earth. You can’t leave your hotel room without security because of the sheer number of fans waiting in all parts of the hotel.”

For this reason, he said it was worth the long trip. It’s very important that we give our fans the ability to see the team live every so often,” he said.

“The English game is very well followed across Asia, and we have phenomenal support out there, so I think it’s only fair and right that we can give something back to these fans.”
After its summer break and in Asia’s hot and humid conditions, United is likely to take it easy, although Ferguson insists it will put on a show.

“The players are really looking forward to our Asia tour. For some, the Club World Cup in Japan [last December] was the first time they had experienced the passion generated by the club in Asia and they enjoyed it immensely,” he said.

It will be United’s first time in Malaysia since 2001 and its maiden foray to Indonesia, where the 77,000 tickets for the game at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium have already sold out.

Rio Ferdinand said the conditions and varied opposition would provide ideal preparation for the long campaign ahead. “One of the main reasons we’ve been successful in the last few years is because we’ve had a good base from preseason,” the England defender said. “It takes a bit of time to get acclimatized to the humid conditions in Asia, but it’s a good exercise to play against different teams that pose different threats.”