Cross-cultural communication （８）　

８）Experiencing a rich Islamic culture
　 During the 1990 Gulf Crisis, I had the opportunity to stay in Saudi Arabia for a month as the team leader of the second team of the Japanese medical team. For details, please see the article “Gulf Crisis, Confidential” on this website. In this series of articles, I would like to share my thoughts from the perspective of cross-cultural experience.

Personally, I am not religious and maintain a neutral stance towards all religions. So, I had the same stance towards Islam. However, my thoughts on Islam changed a little during my month-long stay in Saudi Arabia. At least, in regards to the rich Islamic countries. I came to think that the basic stance of the rich Islamic cultural sphere was, to put it bluntly, self-centered and arrogant.

　In the wealthy oil-producing countries of the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, they impose Islamic law even on non-Muslims who visit as tourists or on business. For example, in Saudi Arabia, even for us foreigners, drinking alcohol is forbidden. You might think it would be okay to drink in your hotel room in secret, but in major hotels, there are spies from the religious police (there really is such a thing!) working as bellboys, and you will be caught immediately. For women, in order to avoid exposing your skin, you must wear a black outfit called an abaya that covers your entire body when you go out. It is a well-known fact that, while they enforce religious precepts on foreigners, as soon as they step outside the country, they drink till they are heavily drunk, and the women wear revealing Western-style clothing.

　The Japanese medical team was negotiating with high-ranking officials from the Saudi Ministry of Health. Without exception, they were Saudi royalty, Muslims, and elites who had studied abroad in Britain and America. Their attitude during the negotiations was one of arrogance personified. This is not just because we were Japanese, but I have no doubt that any citizen of a non-Islamic democracy would have felt the same way. During the Gulf crisis, Japan contributed a huge sum of money to Kuwait, to the tune of 13 billion dollars. In response to criticism from the international community that money alone was not enough, we organized a medical team and came to Saudi Arabia. They said to us, “We don't remember asking you to come. But if you ask us what we want, they are ambulances and a communications system to support them.” Without a word of thanks, they calmly demanded further financial assistance of several hundred thousand dollars.

　I think that the popular uprisings that occurred in Tunisia, an Islamic country, in 2010, and then in Egypt and Libya, known as the “Arab Spring”, were caused by the people's opposition to the excessive power that was linked to Islam and money. Sooner or later, the Arab Spring will also come to the rich Islamic countries of the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.

| BACK |