- 17 Sep 2025
[Book Talk] Japan and the Middle East
The book provides a comprehensive analysis of the emergence, political economy, and foreign relations of Japan’s interactions with the Middle East, with an emphasis on its relations with the states in the Gulf region.
It offers both country-specific case studies and thematic chapters, providing a comprehensive study of Japan’s relations with the Gulf and the broader Middle East. Japan enjoys a strategic partnership with the Arab Gulf countries in terms of energy trade, which has since expanded into a broader trading relationship with the wider Middle East. The book examines Japan’s relations with Israel, Egypt, and Turkey, covering security, the oil sector, and the LNG sector in the Middle East. This depth of analysis allows the book to go beyond its rich analytical and empirical content.
This event will be conducted both in person and online from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM (SGT) on Wednesday, 17 September 2025. Attendance is free; however, registration is mandatory.
Picture caption: A picture taken on August 3, 2021 shows the Israeli-linked Japanese-owned tanker MT Mercer Street, off the port of the Gulf Emirate of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. – On July 29, two crew members of the tanker MT Mercer Street, managed by a prominent Israeli businessman’s company, were killed in what appears to be a drone attack off Oman, the vessel’s London-based operator and the US military say, with Israel blaming Iran. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP)
About the Speakers
Associate Professor
International Relations and an Associate Dean for Student Affairs in the College Humanities and Social Sciences,
Hamad bin Khalifa University, Qatar
Dr. Steven Wright is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of International Relations at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU). He is also a Research Associate at HBKU’s Global Institute for Strategic Research (GISR).
Dr. Wright’s research focuses on the international relations and political economy of the Gulf region, as well as global energy geopolitics. He has published extensively in these areas, with his work translated into multiple languages.
He has delivered keynote addresses at events hosted by organizations such as the World Bank and NATO. In addition, he has served as a consultant and advisor to various governments and multinational corporations. His insights on global affairs have been featured in leading international media outlets, including Bloomberg, CGTN, The Economist, Financial Times, Al Jazeera, Reuters, and The Wall Street Journal.
Professor, Kobe University, Japan
Dr. Satoru Nakamura graduated from the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies with a degree in Arabic in 1993. He completed his doctoral program at the Graduate School of International Cultural Studies, Tohoku University, in 2002 and was subsequently appointed to his current position at Kobe University.
Dr. Nakamura’s research focuses on Japanese diplomacy, Middle Eastern area studies, Islamic studies, security studies, international political theory, and the history of Saudi Arabia. His work aims to promote peace and mutual respect among diverse cultures.
He has served as an expert researcher at the Japanese Embassy in Saudi Arabia (1994–1997) and as a guest researcher at the House of Councillors (2002). He has also been a scholarship recipient of the Peace and Security Institute, Japan (RIPS) and a visiting research fellow at the Gulf Research Center, Qatar University, King Saud University’s Faculty of Law and Political Science, and the Graduate Institute for Peace and Development Studies in Geneva.
Senior Research Fellow
Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore
[Moderator] Dr June Park is a Senior Research Fellow at the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore. She is a South Korean political economist working on the geoeconomics of emerging technologies, observing East Asia, the US, Europe and the Gulf. Concurrently, she is a Non Resident Fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs (ME Council; formerly Brookings Doha Center) in Doha, Qatar and at the National Bureau of Asian Research in Washington, D.C. She is a member of the Helsinki Geoeconomics Society.
Prior to joining MEI-NUS, she held various positions in academia and policy: a Visiting Fellow at the Governance and Development Program of the ME Council (2023-2024) in Qatar, an inaugural Asia Fellow for the International Strategy Forum at Schmidt Futures (2022-2023), a Fung Global Fellow at the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS) at Princeton University (2021-2022), and an EAVI Fellow at the East Asia National Resource Center of the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University (2020-2021).
She is finalising her first book manuscript, DIGITAL TRADE WARS & CURRENCY CONFLICT: China, South Korea and Japan’s Responses to U.S. Pressures. The book project is under the International Strategy Forum (ISF) Fellows Individual Impact Grant of Schmidt Futures.
Dr. Park holds a PhD in Political Science with a focus on international political economy from Boston University (2015) as a Fulbright Fellow. She has held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore (2015-2017).
Event Details
Conference Room
29 Heng Mui Keng Terrace
Blk B Level 6 Singapore 119620
2. Via Zoom
