Gulf Crisis, confidential （１）　

１）Prologue
　Do you remember Gulf Crisis in 1990 followed by Gulf War in 1991? It was the biggest world crisis since the post cold war era started.
What the Japanese government did at that time was greet it with the cynicism and the silent treatment towards the international community. A Japanese journalist, Ryuichi Tejima described it this way: “ Thirteen billion dollars were lost in the desert.”

At that time, I was a physician at Osaka National Hospital, and was sent to Riyadh as the team leader of the Japanese Medical Team. As you know, the failure of the Japanese government this time provoked a controversy regarding whicih would be the best personnel to be sent overseas. This led to the participation of the Japanese Self Defense Forces ( JSDF ) in an international crisis. I’d like to offer some material for discussion to the Japanese people who have to survive in an international society by presenting episodes I experienced in Riyadh, and some of them are confidential.

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