The Development of Nihonmachi in Indonesia through Culture, Politics, and Industry in Cikarang, Bekasi

Abstract.

This research is a continuation to a research on Nihonmachi in Indonesia that is previously done in Blok M, Jakarta by looking at the economic relation between Japan and Indonesia, and the effect of Japanese pop culture through multidisciplinary method to explain how Nihonmachi in Indonesia is formed. The method used for gathering data is by Enthnographic method, using interviews from multiple sources to gain several perspectives around Japanese community that is formed in Cikarang that also hosted Sakura Matsuri annually. The results showed that the Japanese living in Cikarang is tends to be more closed community because of the more segregated space in Cikarang where Japanese can choose where they live and formed a group exclusive to themselves, effectively forming a Gated Community. It can be concluded that the Japanese community in Cikarang developed a distinct identity that differs from Japanese community that is in Blok M.

This paper was presented at ICOBAR 2020