Visitors Overflow the Indonesian Culinary Festival in Tokyo

Visitors queue at various culinary outlets at the Indonesia-Japan Festival at Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, Saturday (14/10). (ANTARA/Juwita Trisna Rahayu)

JAKARTA - The 2023 Indonesia-Japan Festival will take place at Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, on Saturday, October 14.

Unexpectedly, this festival was crowded with visitors from various regions and countries who hunted for Indonesian culinary delights, creating queues snaking across all Indonesian food outlets, from Padang, Balinese, and Javanese culinary delights, to coffee.

A visitor named Shinta admitted that she had been waiting 1.5 hours to cure her longing for Nasi Padang.

"I really miss it because usually it's a long way to go to the shop and it's all combined here, but unexpectedly, it's really busy. You have to be extra patient and wait a long time," said Shinta.

Shinta came with her family to the festival, which was held for the first time after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There wasn't that moment last year. They say it existed before COVID, but I haven't been here. Now it's here again, the moment is definitely different," she said.

Reported by ANTARA, Saturday, October 14, Shinta hopes that the festival will be held longer, not just two days, so that visiting times are more flexible and not so busy.

"The area must be expanded, so that there are no crowds here, so that everything is orderly because the queue was divided, maybe people didn't understand because it was too crowded," said Shinta.

Meanwhile, a Japanese resident named Keito Tamura didn't want to miss tasting Padang rice because it tasted delicious. He remembered visiting Indonesia some time ago.

"Padang food is really delicious. I've tried it in Indonesia, I want to try it again," said Keito.

The Kandai University student admitted that he enjoyed the festival atmosphere which was so thick with Indonesian culture.

Another thing with Popy, who admitted that she came from Medan and didn't have time to try many culinary delights because the queues were too long.

"Just tried the satay because it had the shortest queue among the others," said Popy.

Indonesian Ambassador to Japan Heri Akhmadi promised to add more food outlets so that the queues for visitors could be reduced.

"Indonesian citizens in Japan have almost doubled, so there are a lot of them. It seems like the one with the longest queue is Nasi Padang. We are evaluating that next year we might be given more booths," said Heri.

He revealed that there are separate requirements for food sellers, namely that they must have a certificate so that not all sellers can sell their wares directly.