THE PERSIAN GULF'S EMERGING METROPOLIS

摘要

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven emirates covering an area of 83,600 square kilometers, approximately the size of Hokkaido, with Abu Dhabi as its capital. One of these emirates is Dubai, which has an area of 3,885 km~2, around the size of Saitama Prefecture, and a population of approximately 1.4 million, though this is projected to grow to 3.5 million by 2015. Only 20 percent of the population consists of UAE nationals, and the economy is heavily dependent on foreign workers in all kinds of fields. There are currently some 2,400 Japanese residents, but no Japanese food stores or bookshops.