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In order to keep abreast of the rapidly changing political situation in the Islamic Middle East, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation is currently conducting a lecture series on political movements in the region.

For this lecture, the seventh in the series, Motohiro Oono, a member of the House of Councilors, and a Middle East expert Kunihiko Miyake have been invited to speak on "Japan's response to the situation in the Gulf".

In April this year, councilor Oono accompanied former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on a visit to Iran to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a number of key Iranian officials. In the lecture, councilor Oono spoke mainly on the expectations of the Iranian leaders towards Japan, and discussed how Japan might react to these expectations.
Mr. Miyake, on the other hand, addressed issues such as the post-Arab Spring movement towards democracy in the Middle East, why people in Japan tend to misread the situation in the region, and aspects of the Middle East that often remain hidden even to those well versed in the field.