Russian-Japanese Relations

Анализируются методы работы японского МИД на примере подготовки и проведения российско-японских официальных и неофициальных переговоров на высшем уровне в 1997– 1998 гг. Рассмотрены концептуальные основы японской дипломатии и такие методы, как «дипломатия лицом к лицу», тактика «странения», метод «ловушки», подготовка премьер-министра Японии к переговорам с российским президентом

This paper covers the first Japanese governmental expedition to Hokkaido, Southern Kurils (Kunashir, Iturup and Urup) and southern Sakhalin in 1785-1786, which was caused by the rumors of Russians' expansion to the Kuril Islands and thier contacts with Matsumae domain officials. The purpose of this paper is to clear up the background and the course of the expedition as well as to analyze its scientific and political outcome.

В статье раскрывается история открытия и освоения Курильских островов. Приводятся сведения российских, а также японских документальных источников периода XVII—XVIII веков, свидетельствующие о действительных  первооткрывателях Курильских островов. Приводится ряд соглашений между двумя странами, которые в разное время определяли государственную принадлежность спорных островов.
The article reveals the story of the discovery and development of the Kuril Islands. The article provides the information about Russian travelers, Japanese documentary sources in XVII — XVIII centuries, showing who really was the first to discover the Kuril Islands. The author briefly describes the history of development of the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin and Hokkaido by Russian industrialists and securing Russia's sovereignty over these territories. The author tells about different agreements between the two countries and international legal acts, which at various times was determined by the nationality of the disputed islands.

The factual head of the Japanese government, Matsudaira Sadanobu (1759-1829), declared 'ritual' and 'law' as the foundation for receiving Adam Laxman’s expedition, the first Russian mission to Japan (1792-93). The article attempts at understanding the meaning he ascribed to those notions through the lens of several sources related to Laxman’s expedition.

There can be no question that 2011 marked a turning point for Japan in many respects. In addition to the immediate environmental, health, and social consequences of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis, the disaster will have profound political implications. This paper investigates the significance of these effects in one area: Russian – Japanese relations. Specifically, it is asked whether, in combination with pre-existing economic and strategic incentives, the closure of Japan’s nuclear plants and resulting need to secure abundant new supplies of energy will finally prompt a sustained warming in ties between Japan and its resource-rich northern neighbor. The merits of this proposal are evaluated through close examination of developments in the energy and political fields between March 2011 and February 2013. Findings indicate that there has indeed been a significant increase in energy ties, accompanied by a remarkable turnaround in political relations. This demonstrates that large-scale improvements in this relationship can quickly be achieved when the incentives are right, although whether such progress can be translated into resolution of the territorial dispute remains doubtful.

В книге представлен текст автобиографических рассказов Миура Масао о своей жизни. Нарратив Миура Масао раскрывает страницы его биографии на фоне драматических эпизодов истории Японии середины ХХ в. и истории советского Казахстана. Уникальная судьба Миура Масао, ставшего заключенным в 13 лет, и оказавшегося в Казахстане в 1948 г., где он прожил более полувека, представляет интерес для специалистов разных наук. Оказавшись в чужой стране без знания языка, Миура показал высокие адаптивные способности в чужой стране. Не являясь гражданином страны, он смог построить успешную жизненную стратегию, сохраняя идентичность японца. Большой интерес представляют сведения о повседневной жизни в сельских районах советского Казахстана, которые содержатся в повествовании отличного рассказчика. Издание адресовано всем, кому интересны вопросы истории советско-японских отношений в ХХ в., антропологии повседневности советского общества, исследователям биографического метода — а также студентам и преподавателям вузов.

Pembahasan mengenai sengketa kewilayahan adalah sebuah isu yang cukup mudah ditemukan di wilayah Asia Timur mengingat terdapat cukup banyak ambiguitas wilayah yang diakibatkan oleh kompleksitas geografis berupa negara kepulauan. Salah satu isu sengketa di wilayah Asia Timur yang cukup menarik perhatian adalah sengketa wilayah Kepulauan Kuril Selatan diantara Jepang dan Rusia karena telah berlangsung sejak abad ke-18 dan belum menemukan sebuah penyelesaian secara resmi hingga saat ini. Permasalahan yang pada awalnya disebabkan oleh kerumitan sejarah diantara kedua negara ini pada akhirnya mengalami transformasi menjadi sebuah sengketa yang melibatkan kepentingan strategis kedua negara khususnya di bidang geopolitik dan geostrategis. Selain itu, terdapat pula signifikansi ekonomi, strategis, dan simbolik bagi kedua negara mengingat Kepulauan Kuril Selatan memiliki kandungan sumber daya alam yang cukup melimpah, dapat berfungsi sebagai wilayah pengintaian, sekaligus simbol integritas teritorial kedua negara (Williams, 2007: 21). Meski menjadi salah satu sengketa yang cukup sulit untuk diselesaikan, kedua negara tidak menutup diri untuk menginisiasi upaya penyelesaian sengketa yang telah dimulai secara resmi sejak tahun 1956 hingga saat ini dimana pemerintahan kedua negara berupaya untuk mencari solusi yang bersifat logis rasional agar dapat mempertemukan kepentingan kedua negara di wilayah Kepulauan Kuril Selatan ini melalui jalur negosiasi dan diplomasi guna menjaga arti penting dari perdamaian itu sendiri.

This paper examines the contemporary border between Ukraine and Russia as a case study of Russia's approach to its borders. Two research questions are addressed: Firstly, what does the annexation of Crimea by Russia as well as its attempts to further undermine Ukraine's territorial integrity in its eastern region of Donbas say about Russia's peculiar approach to Ukraine and its borders? Secondly Whether and To what extent does Russia's approach represent a broader pattern of Russia's policy towards its borders? This paper is divided into three parts: the first part gives a brief account of the modern history of the Russian-Ukrainian border; the second part focuses on peculiar Russian approaches to Ukraine revealed during the current Russian-Ukrainian crisis; the third part puts " the Ukrainian case " into broader conceptual frameworks. This paper concludes that Russia's recognition of the territorial integrity and the borders of the post-Soviet states is conditional and depends mainly on their participation in Russia-led integration projects.

In the final chapter, James Brown takes us on an imaginary journey by train from Tokyo to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in the year 2036. The shinkansen travels via the world’s longest undersea tunnel that connects Hokkaidō with Sakhalin. This is also the route of the Russia-Japan energy bridge and gas pipeline. In the twenty years separating us from this imaginary future, Russia and Japan have successfully resolved the territorial dispute, concluded a free trade agreement, and introduced mutual visa free travel. Brown then explains how this highly optimistic vision could materialize. Above all, there will need to be major changes in attitudes on both sides. In particular, political leaders will need to be courageous and set aside considerations of short-term popularity. If their countries’ decisionmakers concentrate on the enormous future potential of this bilateral relationship, and not on the tensions of the past, perhaps they can find the inspiration to transform Russia-Japan relations.

Book review of Anarchist Modernity: Cooperatism and Japanese-Russian Intellectual Relations in Modern Japan. By Sho Konishi. Pp. xiv + 411. Cambridge, MA & London: Harvard University Asia Centre. 2013. $49.95; £36.95; €45.00. ISBN: 9780674073319.

Kurosawa Akira’s Dersu Uzala (1975) represents one of the director’s many attempts to make his cinema into Japan’s entryway into the global community of nations. The price of this entry is the acknowledgment as well as forgetting of uncomfortable historical facts. A revisiting of Kurosawa’s film, set in 1902–1907, against the historical foil of the two world wars, reveals that this cinematic memorial to a Nanai tribesman silently acknowledges and laments Japan’s participation in the extermination of the minority peoples of the Manchukuo state and in the destruction of pre-industrial pan-Asian Siberia. Even if Dersu Uzala can be regarded as a turning point in Kurosawa’s career in terms of style, as many critics do to the detriment of the film’s reputation, this film is nonetheless equally indebted to Kurosawa’s world-view and sensibility of the 1950s–1960s, to which he brings new aesthetic means and political concerns.

This article examines Russia’s position on the Senkaku/Diaoyu dispute. It focuses particularly on the claim that Russia and China are forming an anti-Japanese territorial front. Looking closely at official statements and actions, as well as Russian-language media and scholarship, it is found that Russia, while retaining a position of formal neutrality, clearly considers China’s claims more favourably. While this could be seen to have alarming implications by arraying China and Russia on one side against Japan and the United States on the other, the article also finds that Russia’s support is not without qualifications and that its place in the conflict is not yet entrenched.

This publication is a translation of the “Description of Ezo”, which is an abstract from the “General description of three countries” by Hayashi Shihei (1738–1793), a famous scholar of the Edo period.
This description concerns geographical characteristics and boundaries of the lands north of Japan, as well as customs, clothes, food and activities of the Ainu who inhabited those lands.

This paper engages with the broader question of why Japanese public attitudes to Russia remain so strongly and consistently negative. Existing scholarship has found that the countries' territorial dispute is insufficient as an explanation and instead emphasises the role of a well-entrenched historical narrative in which Japan is presented as the victim of Russian/Soviet aggression. Building upon this work, this research seeks to understand whether this discourse of victimhood has its origins in the way history is taught in Japan's school textbooks. A sample of junior high school and high school textbooks are therefore examined to understand to what extent they present a version of history that encourages young Japanese to develop a negative impression of Russia.

Apres des decennies d’indifference substantielle, la Russie et le monde entier sont en train de redecouvrir l’importance de la Russie orientale et, en particulier, de ses territoires les plus eloignes des centres du pouvoir classiques de ce pays, l’Extreme-Orient. Le developpement de ces regions est devenu en quelques annees un imperatif politique de l’elite dirigeante russe. Neanmoins, cette tâche est tres complexe a realiser d’un point de vue structurel et est extremement couteuse d’un point de vue economique. Les questions en jeu sont nombreuses : geopolitiques, economiques, diplomatiques, demographiques, energetiques, sociales et militaires. Dans ce memoire il s’agira donc d’examiner les perspectives de developpement de la Russie orientale (et en particulier de l’Extreme-Orient) au sein de la region de l’Asie-Pacifique, les obstacles qui pourraient empecher leur realisation, les atouts que cette region peut offrir a Moscou, les risques qui pourraient surgir dans le cas ou les pl...

The article introduces into scientific circulation the dispatches and
reports sent from the board of the frigate “Pallada” during the circumnavigation of 1852 –1854. Most of them were written by I.A. Goncharov, who acted as secretary to the head of the expedition, Vice-Admiral E.V. Putyatin. The documents provide new data on the sailing of the Russian squadron, ship everyday life and incidents, negotiations with Japanese representatives. Corresponding to Goncharov’s memoirs and private letters, the service reports supplement and clarify our knowledge about this interesting page in the writer's life, at the same time providing important historical material on the history of the Russian fleet and diplomacy.

The story of Daikokuya Kōdayū (1751-1828), captain of a Japanese vessel, who spent nine years in Russia after a shipwreck and then returned to Japan with Adam Laxman's expedition (1792-93), is one of the most well-known episodes in the history of early Japan-Russia contacts. However, while detailing Kōdayū's stay in Russia, the primary sources and research works available in Russian barely say anything about Kōdayū's life after his return to Japan. Based primarily on Japanese materials, this work is an attempt to partially fill in this gap.

История Дайкокуя Кодаю — капитана японского судна, который в результате кораблекрушения попал в Россию и спустя девять лет вернулся на родину с экспедицией А. К. Лаксмана (1792-93), — является одной из самых известных страниц в истории ранних контактов между Россией и Японией. Однако доступные на русском языке исследования и исторические источники, подробно описывая период пребывания Кодаю в России, почти не освещают его жизнь после возвращения в Японию. Основанная главным образом на японских материалах, данная работа является попыткой частично восполнить этот пробел.

The article is devoted to the activities of Ivan Goncharov as a participant of the expedition under command of Adjutant General, Vice Admiral E.V. Putyatin, who provided material for the book of essays “Frigate ‘Pallada’”. Emphasis is made on the writer’s participation in the 1853 negotiations with Japan as a secretary and author of a significant part of official reports sent to St. Petersburg, as
well as other documents of a diplomatic nature. For the first time, materials currently stored in the Russian State Archive of the Navy are being introduced into scientific circulation. First of all, these are the diplomatic documents of the expedition in the file “On the instructions given to Adjutant General Putyatin when sending him on a voyage around the world on the frigate “Pallada” concerning the establishing of political and commercial ties between Russia and Japan, etc.”, which highlight the details of negotiations with the Japanese authorities. A detailed description of these documents (letters, diplomatic dispatches, reports, etc.), partially published as part of the article, is given as well as their comparison with other sources, including notes by Archimandrite Avvakum, who participated in the expedition as a translator. The materials included in the article can significantly complement both the documentary and creative history of Goncharov’s essays “Frigate ‘Pallada’”, as well as the chronicle  of the writer’s life and work as a whole. Thus, documents first published by the author of the article reveal an important aspect of Goncharov’s activity as not only a writer, but also a participant of a diplomatic mission.

For citation: Malashevskaya M.N. The collapse of the USSR in the views of the third party: analysis of memoirs of Japanese diplomats Edamura Sumio and Sato Masaru. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies, 2018, vol. 10, issue 3, pp. 000–000. https://doi.org/ The final years of the USSR and the person of its president M. Gorbachov are the focus of numerous Russian researches connected with history, politics, economics and other fields of social science. This topic also has attracted a great deal of attention from researchers in Western countries and Japan. The Gorbachov epoch is viewed in a very particular was in in Japan: the former Soviet president is very popular up to the present among people and scholars and he was supported by the Japanese politicians and authorities because of his 'perestroika' course. In recent years the historical period from the end of the 1980s to the beginning of the 1990s is being reconsidered in Russian social science, especially due to the 25 th anniversary of the USSR's collapse. This article aims to cover these events as they were seen by Japanese diplomats who became the witnesses of the dramatic transformations in our country.

Since the triple disaster in Japan in 2011, the energy dimension of Japan-Russia relations in the Russian Far East (RFE) has developed at a more rapid pace. The integration of the energy markets of the world’s top liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer, Japan, and major energy exporter, Russia, has paralleled a warmer bilateral political climate and been accelerated by Russia’s turn to the East. In the aftermath of the Ukraine crisis, the globe’s energy landscape has been significantly altered and both Russia and Japan have faced constraints economically and in terms of bilateral cooperation. Questions remain about how bilateral energy relations will develop in the face of competition from Japan’s traditional energy suppliers and ongoing Japanese government efforts to diversify energy sources. Is energy prompting a stronger bilateral political bond or just fostering a limited partnership in this area? In considering the consequences of the Fukushima and Ukraine crises on Japan-Russia energy relations and the energy dimension of Russia’s pivot to Asia, the topic is placed in a wider context of new dynamics in Japan-Russia relations.

The article presents an unpublished primary source regarding Adam Laxman’s expedition to Japan (1792-93) – a journal written by one of the members of the expedition, the copy of which is held in the Russian State Historical Archive. An attempt is made to determine the authorship of the journal, to compare its contents with those of other primary sources concerning Adam Laxman’s expedition, and to consider the significance of the journal for further research.

Статья посвящена не введённому в научный оборот источнику по экспедиции А.К. Лаксмана (1792-93) – журналу одного из её участников, копия которого хранится в Российском государственном историческом архиве. Предпринята попытка установить авторство журнала, сопоставить его содержание с другими источниками по истории экспедиции А.К. Лаксмана и оценить значение нового источника для её изучения.

В представленной статье рассмотрена история переговоров между президентом России Б. Н. Ельцином и премьер-министрами Японии Хасимото Рютаро (в ходе «встреч без галстуков» 1997–1998 гг.) и Обути Кэйдзо (во время его официального визита в Москву в ноябре 1998 г.). В ходе этих переговоров стороны обменивались предложениями, нацеленными на решение территориального диспута между двумя странами и расширение двухстороннего взаимодействия в экономической, социальной и политической областях. Японская сторона руководствовалась новой концептуальной моделью вариантов решения территориального спора, заключавшейся в поэтапном решении данной проблемы, российские представители, со своей стороны, предлагали отойти от ведения территориальных переговоров и укреплять связи в самых разнообразных областях.
The article reviews the history of negotiations between the president of Russian Federation B. N. Eltsin and prime-ministers of Japan Hashimoto Ryutaro (during “no necktie meetings” 1997–1998) and Obuchi Keizo (during the official visit to Moscow in 1998 November). During these summits the officials of Russia and Japan exchanged proposals aimed at territorial dispute decision and at development of bilateral economic, social and political cooperation. In the course of meetings Japan acted according to new conceptual models of step-by-step decision of territorial issue, on the other hand, Russia considered stepping aside from the territorial negotiations and strengthening ties in various fields.

The treatise “Kaikoku Heidan”, or “Military Disputes about Maritime Nation”, by Hayashi Shihei is well-known among researchers of Russo-Japanese relations due to the ideas suggested by the author in its preface. It is in the “Kaikoku Heidan” that the idea of Russia as a country hostile to Japan
had first appeared. Here is the first attempt to translate the preface into Russian. The preceding commentary concerns the reasons which forced the author to write such a treatise.

Since 2014, the Kremlin treated Japan as a tool to undermine the unity of the "anti-Russian front" formed in the West. However, after 2016, this idea has lost relevance. A new understanding came that special relations with Japan front will not undermine the unity of the West, and Japan will not unilaterally withdraw from sanctions. Despite all the statements about the" turn to the East", the foreign policy thinking of the Russian elite still focuses on Europe. Apparently, Moscow, as it was during the cold war, believes that world politics is committed in the Euro-Atlantic space, and the Asia-Pacific countries are perceived rather as a "strategic rear". In the eyes of Kremlin Japan is still considered an American satellite rather than an independent player. In addition, Moscow somehow feels that even the withdrawal of Japan from sanctions would not lead to serious changes in the economic cooperation between the two countries. Japanese sanctions are rathe...

Russia and Japan are important players in the Asia-Pacific region. They share many common interests and responsibilities to promote greater security and prosperity. Moscow and Tokyo have recognized the centrality of the Asia-Pacific  region  to  their  own  economic  wellbeing  and stability. Both countries are becoming more active in regional affairs. Both countries prioritize nuclear non-proliferation and engagement in multilateral forums. Both seek to encourage peaceful  resolution of disputes among regional states.

The territorial dispute between Japan and Russia over four islands off the northeast coast of Hokkaido has been an enduring obstacle to closer relations between the two powers and therefore an important determinant of geopolitics in North-East Asia. Having emerged at the end of World War II, this conflict has now existed for more than seven decades. And yet, despite the passage of so much time, within Japan there remains a resilience of belief that the islands will eventually be returned.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of Japan’s prospects of ever recovering these "Northern Territories". Offering an in-depth account of why the Japanese side believe they still have a chance of securing the return of the four islands, it also provides an objective and methodical evaluation of the prospects of these expectations being realised. The key finding is that Japanese policymakers and scholars have consistently overestimated the extent of Japan’s leverage with regard to Russia, and that there is, in fact, already no possibility whatsoever of sovereignty over the four islands being restored to Japan. This has major implications for Japanese decision makers who must balance their principled commitment not to compromise on territorial issues with more pragmatic considerations of energy security and how to contain the rise of Chinese regional power.

Presenting a unique analysis and a strikingly different perspective on this territorial dispute, the findings of this book are of considerable importance for international relations within the Asia-Pacific region. It will be of interest to students and scholars of Japanese Politics, Russian Politics and International Relations.

Examine paper dedicated to relation ship between Russia and Japan in XIX-XX centuries, including research about economical and political development of these countries that led them to Russian-Japan war of 1904-1905 yy. Writted on Russian language

While the US ‘Pivot to the Pacific’ features regularly in media and academic discourses, we hear much less about Russia’s own turn towards the great ocean. Yet, isn’t Moscow also interested in paying more attention in that direction? A number of reasons may prompt us to answer the question in the affirmative, including a perceived need to diversify away from Europe, made the more urgent by the current clash over the Ukraine and ensuing US and EU sanctions. Even without this powerful reason, Russia has long desired to achieve a more balanced set of foreign relations, underpinning a long-wished-for greater domestic geographical diversification. While the main challenges to that policy goal remain formidable, there is ample evidence that Russia is indeed trying to expand her Pacific footprint. Furthermore, although relations with China remain important at many levels, not least of which the natural gas trade, by engaging a wide range of actors Moscow seems to be trying to avoid excessive reliance on Beijing.