Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2022
One of the most striking characteristics Iranian studies in Japan is government initiative. The government has long taken the initiative in establishing institutions and programs for such study. Particularly in the 1930s, the motivation for studying Iran was partly political and strategic. Since the late 1960s, however, there has been a more economic orientation. Another characteristic is that Iranian studies have developed within the framework of scholarship on the Middle East in general. For this reason, the general trend of Middle Eastern studies, as well as that of Iranian studies, will be discussed. It is logical to divide this trend into three eras: 1) the 1930s until the end of World War II, 2) the 1950s through the 1960s, and 3) the 1970s to the present.