The 16th Iraq-Japan Joint Academic Conference: “Current Situation of the Japanese Studies and language in Iraq“
Since Professor Mahmoud al-Qaysi of University of Baghdad first visited Japan in 2005, two years after the Iraq War, he and Prof. Sakai of Chiba University have been working together to encourage Japanese studies in Iraq. Since 2007, fifteen Japan-Iraq Joint Academic Conferences have been held in Iraq or Japan, bringing together researchers from leading Iraqi universities, particularly Baghdad University, with Japanese researchers in Middle Eastern studies and other fields such as history, area studies, archaeology and education, where there is a high demand for cooperation from the Iraqi side. Particularly since 2015, with the cooperation of the Japanese Embassy in Iraq, these conferences have been successfully held within Iraq (in Basra, Najaf, Karbala, and Baghdad).
This year, with the cooperation of the Japan Foundation and Waseda University, a 16th Japan-Iraq Joint Academic Conference will be held in Japan as detailed below. The theme is ‘The Current State of Japanese Studies in Iraq,’ and the aim is to promote research cooperation between Japan and Iraq.
Date: 6-7 December, 2025
Venue: Waseda University, 3rd Building 10th floor, Meeting Room No.1
https://www.waseda.jp/top/en/assets/uploads/2022/06/waseda-campus-map_202109.pdf
Language: English
No registration required
—–Programme—–
Day 1 (6 December, 2025 )
13:00-13:50 Opening
Welcome speech:
Mr. Hirofumi Miyake, (Deputy Director-General/ Deputy Assistant Minister, MOFA)
Mr. Ahmad Al Azzawi (Counsellor and Cultural Officer Embassy of Iraq in Japan,)
Prof. Baha Bahaa Ibraheem Ansaf (President, University of Baghdad)
Prof. Toyomi Asano (Professor, Waseda University, Director of Institute of International Reconciliation Studies)
Prof. Mahmoud al-Qaysi (Professor, College of Arts, University of Baghdad)
13:50-14:10 Coffee Break
14:10-17:30 Panel 1: War Memory and Reconciliation of Post-war Japan and Iraq
14:10-14:40 Keynote speech:
Eiji Oguma (Professor, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University)
“Hearing the Unheard Voices: Japan’s War and Postwar Experiences and Memories”
14:40-16:30 Presentations:
Mahmoud al-Qaysi (University of Baghdad)
“Speicher Massacre:, a New Genocide in Postwar Iraq : How we use the Oral History Method to Understand what happened”
Alaa al-Ameri (Professor, College of Arts, Mustansiriya University)
“Oral History A Methodological and Practical Guide for Academic Research and University Training.”
Toyomi Asano (Professor, Director of Institute of International Reconciliation Studies, Waseda University)
“How to Approach an Emotional History Issues?; Through Analyzing a Legal Structure of Japan’s Protection over Korean Kingdom after the Russo-Japanese War, 1905-1910”
Naoyuki Umemori (Professor, Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University)
“Modernization and Colonization in Japan: Thinking through Islam”
Keiko Sakai (Professor, Center for Relational Studies on Global Crises, Chiba University)
““IR of the Vanquished” as a Potential Alternative IR: Reflecting the case of Japan”
16:30-17:30 Discussion
18:30-20:30 １日目議論のフォローアップ、２日目のパネル打合せ（トルコ料理店「トルコアズ」池袋）
Day 2 (7 December)
10:00-13:00 Panel 2: Development of Studies on Japan and Japanese language in Iraq
10:00-10:30 Keynote Speech
Baha Bahaa Ibraheem Ansaf (President, University of Baghdad)
“Japanese Language as interdisciplinary paradigm for the College of Arts and College of Excellence”.
10:30-12:30 Presentations:
Mr. Shotaro Ono (Director, Middle East Division 2, Middle East and Europe Department, JICA) “Japan’s assistance for the reconstruction in Iraq through Japanese ODA and beyond”
Mahmoud Al-Qaysi (University of Baghdad)
“The current situation of Japanese Historical Studies Program -JHSP in College of Arts- University of Baghdad”.
Ali Abdulameer Sachit (Dean, College of Arts, University of Baghdad)
”Why We Delay Opening of the Department of Japanese Language in College of Arts to 2025? A Comparison with Cairo University Experience”
Alaa Al- Ameri (Mustansiriya University)
“The Qiyam School Experience of Japanese language program”
Nour Al-Karawi (Lecturer, College of Arts, Iraqiya University)
”Translating of the Holy Quran in Japan”
12:30-13:00 Discussion:
Yuichi Tsuchida (Professor, Faculty of Education, Keiai University)
Emi Goto (Associate Professor, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)
13:00-14:00 Lunch
14:00-15:45 Panel 3: Archeological Research in Iraq; Past and Present
Presentations:
Laith Majeed Hussein (Director of the Center of the Scientific Arab Revival, University of Baghdad)
“Destruction of the Iraqi Heritage in postwar Iraq”.
Kazumi Oguchi (Director, The Institute for Cultural Studies of Ancient Iraq in the School of Asia 21, Kokushikan University)
“Past Japanese Archaeological Expeditions and the Resumption of Research at Kish”
Naohiko Kawakami (Associate Professor, The Faculty of Human Sociology Department of International Tourism, Nagasaki International University)
“Japan’s Most Recent Contributions to the Field of Mesopotamian Archaeology in Iraq: The Japan-Iraq Joint Survey at Tell Sinker”
Discussion
16:00-18:00 Panel 4: Kurdish Studies in Japan and Situation in the Northern Iraq
Mostafa Khalili (Assistant Professor, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)
“Unsettled Reconciliations: Cycles of Remembering, Forgetting, and the Struggle for Belonging in Iraqi Kurdistan”
Ghaidaq Abdulmuna’m Mohemmed (Lecturer, College of Arts, University of Baghdad)
“Yazidies of Sinjar and 2014 Genocide: “The problem of Exodus and Integration”
Sohrab Ahmadian (JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)
“Negotiating Difference and Belonging: Social Dynamics of Kurdish-Japanese Interaction in a Changing Society”
Discussant: Keiko Sakai
Sponsors: Japan Foundation Support Program for Development of Infrastructure for Japanese Studies, “the current situation of Japanese language and studies in Iraq” (2025; Project Director: Mahmoud al-Qaysi)
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), “Sense of Nation and Knowledge Production among the migrant communities from the Middle East”, (2024-2028: Leader: Keiko SAKAI)
Supported by: Institute of International Reconciliation Studies, Waseda University
