UNAIR NEWS – The second day of Faculty of Humanities (FIB) ¶«¾©ÈÈ leadership visit to Japan, Tuesday, November 15, 2022, was quite busy. The Dean of FIB, Prof Dr Purnawan Basundoro MHum was given the opportunity to give a public lecture and have discussion at Chiba University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
The public lecture was held at the initiative of Professor Chiyo Yonemura PhD, a lecturer of Family Sociology and Historical Sociology. Prof. Chiyo is one of the senior lecturers at Chiba University and former Dean of the Faculty of Letters.
Dozens of Professor Chiyo Yonemura’s students attended the lecture. Before the public lecture started, Prof. Yonemura said that many students in Japan were not familiar with Indonesian history.
“Indonesia’s history in the past is closely related to the history of the Japanese people who colonized Indonesia for 3.5 years,” she explained.
On the occasion, Prof. Purnawan delivered a public lecture on economic development in urban Indonesia during the 1945-1965 period. He explained that this period was crucial period for the journey of Indonesia as a nation because it involved drastic political changes that impacted social and economic conditions in urban areas.
“Several big cities such as Jakarta and Surabaya were centers of economic activity during the late 19th to early 20th centuries,” he explained.
Furthermore, Prof. Purnawan also explained the Japanese occupation that took place from 1942 to 1945. It, he continued, was a dark period that drastically changed the history of Indonesia.
“Cities as centers of economic growth suffered great damage and had difficulties reviving in the next period,” he explained.
Prof. Purnawan also conveyed to the public lecture participants that the Indonesian efforts to build the foundations of the economy during the 1945-1965 period faced many obstacles.
The public lecture lasted about two hours, and students were asked questions about their understanding of Indonesia and Indonesian history at the end of the lecture.
Several students enthusiastically shared their knowledge about Indonesia. One of the students explained that he knew Indonesia because a friend had invited him to eat at an Indonesian restaurant not far from his house. The restaurant’s name is Monggo Moro, which serves various Javanese dishes.
 Author: Nuri Hermawan
