Street protests to collect 'Coins for Australia' or 'Coins for Abbott' have spread from Aceh to the capital and beyond, with even the vice president offering to repay the $1 billion in aid contributed by Australia for recovery efforts after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been leading what officials describe as a "massive" private and public diplomacy campaign to persuade Indonesian leaders to halt the execution of drug traffickers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, convicted of trafficking heroin.

Indonesia’s foreign ministry told Australia on Wednesday that Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s reminder about a $1 billion aid rendered during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami crisis will not change Indonesia’s mind about executing the Bali Nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran for drug trafficking. Foreign Ministry spokesman Armanatha Nasir told reporters that he understood what Abbott meant with his statement.

ActionAid, Oxfam and World Vision voice concern at ‘unprecedented’ cuts that divert focus from disaster preparedness programs

When it comes to diplomatic achievements, often common citizens can be even more effective than foreign relations specialists. In all likelihood this is because, at the grassroots level, interaction on the basis of pure friendship is possible; whereas in relations between professional politicians, words and actions tend to be determined by national interests.

While Japan struggles to recover from the shocking devastation of the March 11, 2011 (3/11) earthquake and tsunami, Japanese public diplomacy also struggles to recover from the damage. Tourism campaigns, especially those with a focus of rehabilitating the image of the Japanese are critical, benefiting from support of non-Japanese artists.

As a way to promote travel, Japan will invite influential bloggers and Twitter users from across the globe to visit areas affected by the earthquake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear crisis, which occurred last March.Targeting these areas will aim to restore Japan’s dwindling tourism, which dropped by 50 percent in the first three months following the natural disasters.

The event in Tehran will be held during 25-29 January 2012 during which “Gun-en Artists group” shows around 50 pieces of its members' artistic works including paintings, pictures, dolls and textiles. The embassy is also going to hold exhibitions of photographs and children’s paintings of Japan’s disaster-stricken areas of March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.