The decision to publish it was taken on February 26, 1971 at a meeting of the Japanese studies section of the Scientific Council for the Coordination of Research Works in Oriental Studies of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The publication of the yearbook, launched in 1972 by the initiative group of Soviet Japanologists, has not been interrupted ever since.

During the Soviet period, the yearbook, which was considered the organ of the Section for the Study of Japan within the USSR Academy of Sciences, was published with the support of academic institutions: the Institute of Oriental Studies and the Institute of the Far East. It was published by the Main Editorial Office of Oriental Literature of the publishing house "Nauka".

Since 1993, it has been published as an organ of the Russian Association of Japanese Studies. The materials of the yearbook give a cumulative view of the life of Japan.