Japan Ambassador to Indonesian, Masafumi Ishii. (Image via Detik, Instagram @jpnambsindonesia)

Instagram Diplomacy: Japanese Ambassador Brings Diplomacy Closer to Indonesian People

Kinanty Nadia Putri
Politics & Economic
Politics
Jul 10, 2019
2014
In today’s global politics, diplomacy is evolving into a form of influence to win the hearts and minds of people. The Japanese ambassador to Indonesia Masafumi Ishii must agree with this.

The 61-year-old ambassador has been living in Indonesia since April 2017 and definitely has a unique way to maintain his country strong relationship with Indonesia. Through his official Instagram account, Ishii posts photos of him posing in kawaii—cute in Japanese—poses, while wearing batik top and showing his lunch of the day which happens to be variety kind of Indonesian cuisines. And yes, that is also him posing in a pair of shrimps covering his eyes.

Some people may think how an ambassador like Ishii, who often perceived as a prestigious figure by society, could conduct himself in such a way. But for no joke, this is diplomacy for him to improve Japan-Indonesia relationships in sectors like business and cultural exchange. Over the past few months, his Instagram account has attracted Indonesian and overseas press, and could gain more than 10,000 likes for each of his posing-with-food photos. There are also tons of comment from Indonesians praising his amusing poses and captions.

In his interview with South China Morning Post, Ishii said that his Instagram adventures are intended to bring diplomacy closer to people, especially to his 73,600 followers on the social media platform.

He also explained that the ideas for his social media content are the result of brainstorming with his protocol team, including the food, captions, and comments. But he admitted that the poses are mostly spontaneous, which make him looks comical and warm in the eyes of Indonesians people.

Through Instagram diplomacy, Ishii wants to bridge the cross-cultural understanding between Japanese and Indonesian people, especially the youth whom he believes will play an important role in maintaining the positive relationship between the two nations.

With one Instagram post at a time, Ishii is burnishing Japan’s soft power in Indonesia and now it is working positively.

Source: https://travel.detik.com/travel-news/d-4617425/diplomasi-kekinian-dubes-jepang-menyasar-generasi-muda-indonesia

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