Book
Боги, святилища, обряды Японии: Энциклопедия синто
The proceedings of the III International Scientific Conference of Young Orientalists, which was held at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies in November 2015, cover different aspects of the development of the countries of Northeast Asia and their cooperation with Russia. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the current state and prospects of political, military and economic development of China, Japan, Mongolia, North and South Korea in various fields in the context of the current military and political situation in the world and main regional economic trends. Some issues of cultural, social and historical development of Russia's Far Eastern neighbors are also explored.
The present edition of the “Yearbook Japan” presents articles by Russian and foreign researchers traditionally covering a wide range of issues on Japan and Russo-Japanese relations – foreign policy and domestic politics, economy and society, history and culture of Japan. The special topic of this issue is “Reforms and transfomation in the contemporary history of Japan and Russia (on the 150th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration and 100th anniversary of the Russian revolution”). The edition is intended for specialists in regional Japanese studies as well as for the general public.
The article traces how the image of the Ainu formed by Japanese intellectuals in 18th and early 19th centuries influenced the formation of Japan’s policy towards this ethnic minority in the Meiji period (1868-1912).
The book is dedicated to the classic Japanese novel Genji Monogatari. The issues of its translation, and interpretation, cultural meanings are discussed.
The reforms of the Meiji period should be recognized as extremely successful. Their program was promulgated at the very beginning of the Meiji reign and was recorded in the “Five charter oath” (1868). Meiji promised Shinto gods to make decisions based on “public gatherings” – and a parliament was created in the country (1889). Meiji promised that the ruling and the ruled should become closer to each other – and the medieval gap between the authorities and the subjects really narrowed, and the Japanese nation was formed from scattered territorial, class, confessional and professional groups. The third point about the development of personal initiative was also implemented. First of all, it refers to entrepreneurship in all its manifestations. It is precisely because of this that Japan has managed to accelerate industrialization. The fourth paragraph was about reforming the “bad habits of the past” and introducing governance in accordance with the principles of Heaven and Earth, which is usually understood as fair governance in accordance with the laws. The estate right was abolished, the law became one for all. The fifth paragraph talked about Japan’s greater openness to the world and about the development of education. This goal was certainly also achieved.
Despite being close allies of the US, security cooperation between Japan and the European Union is mostly developing on 'ad hoc' basis. Indeed, geographical distance, specific limitations in the mili-tary sphere and absence of systematic foreign policy consultations had created the reality, where the EU and Japan are unlikely to regard each other as security partners of the first choice. However, these countries had been cooperating in security sphere and proceeding from the similarities between the two actors, we can con-clude that in certain circumstances their cooperation could be reinforced. First, both Japan and the EU prac-tice 'civilian power' approach to military security, tend to focus on peacekeeping, post-conflict reconstruction and crisis management. Second, strong partnership with the USA and NATO brings foreign policy positions of Japan and the EU close to each other. This article focuses on the problem of actual interaction between the partners after 1991, concentrating on various aspects of security, except for non-traditional security areas such as cybersecurity, environmental and energy security etc. With this purpose in mind, the article is divided into two parts. The first part deals with concrete examples of cooperation in the course of regional conflicts and crisis development. The reasons for relatively weak security cooperation between Japan and the EU, as well as possible ways of their security dialogue strengthening, are analyzed in the second part. The main con-clusion the author comes to is as follows: the factors, which prevent EU-Japan security dialogue from rein-forcement, most probably won't stop influencing this relationship in the nearest future. However, in some spheres, such as peacekeeping, post-conflict reconstruction and crisis management, potential of EU-Japan cooperation might be fulfilled to a greater extent.
The article traces the history of corporate governance in Japan and its present state.