"Because we've experienced that too": Indonesian support for Japan following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake

People and organisations around the world undertook activities to express support for Japan in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011. Although the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011 has generated significant discussion relating to issues of energy security and nuclear power use, the activities undertaken to morally and financially support Japan have received little attention. Amongst the demonstrations of this support, especially interesting are fund-raising efforts by those in countries that are significantly less economically powerful than Japan, such as Indonesia. Based on interview material with an array of Indonesians (who work neither in government nor international relief) who undertook such activities, this article proposes that the outpouring of support for Japan must be understood not in terms of the outcomes of either Japan's foreign aid activities, its considerable soft power, or even an incipient global moral economy, but that all three of these are required together to account for the nature and extent of the support Japan received from those in Indonesia.