Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto is set to make his first state trip to Tokyo for talks with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi later this month, but the details remain scarce.

A Japanese Foreign Ministry statement published Friday wrote that Prabowo’s visit was slated for March 29-31. His meeting with Takaichi will take place around those dates, alongside a luncheon with Japanese Emperor Naruhito. 

“President Prabowo’s visit will be a great opportunity for the two countries to further strengthen the comprehensive and strategic partnership,” the ministry said.

“The government of Japan sincerely welcomes the visit of President Prabowo.”

Despite the frequent international travels and Tokyo’s economic influence in Indonesia, it took almost two years into Prabowo’s term before Prabowo finally chose Japan as his next overseas stop. Prabowo hosted Takaichi’s predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba, in January 2025. About nine months later, Prabowo came to the Osaka Expo to check out the Indonesian pavilion, but this only counted as a private visit. 

Asked about the Tokyo trip, Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Yvonne Mewengkang only told the press that “preparations are underway”. The envoy added: “There are no details on what our governments will discuss that we can share at the moment”.

Prabowo had already met Takaichi at the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in South Korea last October. Takaichi — a staunch conservative — at the time drew public attention when she amicably approached Prabowo, even scooting her seat towards his direction. 

On the economic front, Indonesia-Japan trade had slowed by almost 10.6% year-on-year to $2.2 billion in January 2026. Japan has agreed to remove the tariff lines on Indonesian fish products after both governments revised an existing bilateral trade pact. Realized investments by Japanese investors totaled $3.1 billion throughout 2025. Japan is also one of the donors behind the $21.4 billion Just Energy Transition (JETP) partnership that aims to bankroll Indonesia’s sayonara to coal.

Just a day earlier, Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said that Indonesia was eyeing a trilateral security cooperation with Japan and Australia. Sjafrie had just had closed-door defense talks with his Australian counterpart Richard Marles.

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