>>27581303This actually. Am indon btw.
A lot of business people before the 90s already got connections with Japan. The earliest post Indonesian independence would be Adam Malik (Soeharto's 2nd vice president, national hero, fought against the Dutch etc) actually used wartime Japanese connection to contact the CIA, through this guy Shigetada Nishijima (
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigetada_Nishijima).
Post 1990s though, Japanese culture exploded (there are some outliers, like my Mom had been reading shoujo manga since 1980s), exploded because western cartoons are too expensive to purchase the license and the TV stations chose Japanimation.
Now imagine yourself growing up in the 90s and 2000s, your dad definitely use Japanese cars, every Sunday morning you watch Conan, Doraemon, Ninja Hattori, Dragon Ball, etc, and on weekdays you learn about the process by which Indonesia got it's independence and the nuance topic of Soekarno having to minimize Japanese role in the Indonesian independence to avoid the Allies judging Indonesia as Japanese puppet.
Oh yeah that part about "Japan 'liberating' (with huge quotes, mind you) Indonesia, that was extensively taught in history class, especially this guy Admiral Tadashi Maeda (
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadashi_Maeda_(admiral))
Ask any Indonesians about Tadashi Maeda and they will know it, it is mandatory curriculum in school.
