- Lecturer: Keiko Sakai, Professor, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
- Date & Time: Thursday,February 5, 2009, 12:15-1:15 pm
- Venue: Kabayama / Matsumoto Room, International House of Japan
- Admission: 3,000 yen (IHJ Members: 2,000 yen) with a lunch ticket*
- 2,000 yen (IHJ Members: 1,000 yen) lecture only
- Language: Japanese (with no English translation)
- Supported by The America-Japan Society, Inc.
U.S. President George W. Bush, who led the “War on Terror,” will be leaving office at the end of January 2009 and the world’s attention is now on the new United States under President-elect Barack Obama. Meanwhile, Iraq, which has produced several millions of refugees and is faced with various difficulties in its new administration, is increasingly falling into disarray.
This lecture invites Prof. Keiko Sakai, one of the leading researchers on Iraq in Japan, to talk about the current situation and the future of Iraq including the Iraq War, the relationship of the new Iraqi government with its neighboring countries such as Iran and Turkey, and the impact of the new Obama administration which has indicated an early withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
Keiko Sakai
Born in 1959. Graduated from the University of Tokyo. M.A. from the University of Durham. Sakai was a researcher and counselor at the Institute of Developing Economies until 2005 when she assumed her current position. Specializes in the modern political history of Iraq. Her books include Iraku wa taberu－Kakumei to nichijo no fuukei [Iraq Eats－Scenes from the Revolution and Everyday Life](Iwanami Shoten, 2008), Fusein Iraku seiken no shihai kozo [Power Structure of the Saddam Regime in Iraq] (Iwanami Shoten, 2003), and Iraku to Amerika [Iraq and America] (Iwanami Shinsho, 2002).