Written By: Andina Faizah
Edited by: Abid Aziz
The Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) is known as the university in Japan that has almost half of its student population made up of international students from 99 different countries across the globe as of November 2023 (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, n.d., Facts and Figures). As one of the largest communities at APU, owing to the significant number of Indonesian international students, the Indonesian community has hosted many large-scale activities and has made valuable contributions to society in Beppu, Oita.
One of the most popular Indonesian cultures within the society is sports, more specifically, Futsal became the beacon of unity in the Indonesian community in APU famously known within the community as APUINA, uniting sport-enthusiasts and the whole community across the batch. APUINA often hosts a weekly futsal game that is not exclusive to the Indonesians rather, often invites these Indonesian’s mutual connections. It usually takes place on the 8th floor of the famous Department Store in Beppu called Tokiwa (トキハ). These games usually lasts for 2 hours, starting from 19:00 until 21:00 on the weekends. On some rare occasions, the Indonesian community hosts a sparring friendly match with the Japanese futsal community.
These off-campus sports activities are hosted by APUINA and are widely broadcasted on the Line group chat called “Segar Bugar Beppu”, which translates to “Beppu Fresh and Fit”. The group chat consists of the Indonesian Community across batches, especially those who recognize themselves as sport-enthusiasts. The head of APUINA Sports Division, Andrew Jaya Satyo, is an Indonesian third-year APM student from APU’s 2021 international intake. He frequently encourages the weekly event. In an interview during one of the games, he mentioned, "We usually have about 12 to 15 participants, but our record attendance was 28 participants.
Another member of the APUINA Sports Division, Shaqil Rashad Alvito, an Indonesian second-year APS student claimed, “I wasn’t interested in futsal or soccer at first, as I am most passionate in basketball, but then I was convinced to join one of the weekly games by Andrew about last year, and I came to the liking of futsal ever since.”
Essentially, the weekly futsal game hosted by APUINA and the Indonesian community has had a really great effect on both the student’s lifestyle and community engagement throughout their APU life and have had very promising and satisfying feedback from the APU community in Beppu, Oita.
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