Arab News Japan

SAITAMA, Japan: Saitama Governor ONO Motohiro, one of Japan’s premier Arabists with close ties to the United Arab Emirates, has expressed his sadness at the death of UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.

In an interview with Arab News Japan, Ono offered his condolences to the UAE.

“My deepest condolences to the UAE and its people on the passing and loss of President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. When Sheikh Khalifa was Crown Prince, I was told by him that relations with Japan are important,” Ono said.

Ono shared a memory saying, “[Former] Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who has been elected the new president of the UAE, was hoping to have his son enroll at a Japanese school in Abu Dhabi, and he and his wife were very happy when their son passed the entrance exam.”

“I look forward to further strengthening relations between the Gulf region and Japan under the leadership of the new president who has close Japan ties.”

Ono is an Arabic speaker and served as a Foreign Ministry researcher and diplomat in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Syria, and served as Senior Researcher of the Middle East Institute of Japan, and Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Defense. He was elected governor of Saitama Prefecture in 2019.

In 2011, Ono published a study titled the “Reconsideration of the Meanings of the Tribal Ties in the United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi Emirate in Early ʼ90s” in the Kyoto Bulletin of Islamic Area Studies.