The Cross-Cultural Lecture was held to promote multi-cultural understanding. The theme of the second session of this fiscal year was “Iran”.  There is little and limited information about the people living in Iran, so that AIRA held this lecture to shed light on how Iranian people really live.  (No 23-18)

   Date and Time  :  Sunday, December 17   14:00 ~ 15:40

  Venue  :  Meeting Room 1  Abiko Civic Hall

  Lecturer  :  Ms. YAMAGUCHI Masayo (Translator and Announcer for IRIB, Iranian International Broadcasting, Radio Japan) and Mr. SOLTANI Majid (Her Husband)

  Participants  :  27 people ( 13 members, 14 non-members)

Moderated by Ms. ARAI Mutsumi (in charge of the Cross-Cultural Lectures), the lecture started after opening remarks by AIRA’s President KITAJIMA Fumiko.

Ms. YAMAGUCHI Masayo lived in Iran from 2002 to 2023 and has lived in Abiko since she returned to Japan.  As she lived in Iran for two decades, she has deep knowledge about the Iranian way of life.  She discussed Iran’s climate, customs, food, and things in common between the two countries, using images.

Iran, situated in the same latitude with Japan, shares various geographical features with Japan such as deserts, high mountains, and also is surrounded by the sea like Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf.  As Iran has four seasons, people can enjoy snow activities and skiing in winter, blossoms and picnic in spring.  They also cerebrate the New Year in spring when family members gather together. 

During Ramadan period, eating and drinking are prohibited from sunrise to sunset and free meals are provided after sunset.

Iran opens doors to various religions, including Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism.

Iranians have positive interest in Japanese culture including TV dramas such as “Oshin”, “24 no Hitomi” as well as samurai and ninja.

                        

After the lecture, the attendees asked questions like “Why are Iranian people friendly toward Japan?” and “How do people live under the economic sanctions?”

As Japanese people have fewer chances to access to Iranian information, today’s lecture was successful in helping the participants renew their perceptions about the country

As a reference, images used in this lecture are provided on the lifestyle of Iranians, click here講演会資料

(Translated by KOYAMA Hitomi)