The article is devoted to the development of creative economy. The author considers peculiarities and main directions of development of this sector, as well as mechanisms of state support for creative industries in the framework of the strategy "Cool Japan" and in the context of the challenges of recovery in domestic demand, expansion of export opportunities of the country, creation of new jobs. The article also analyzes the main approaches of international organizations and experts to the phenomenon of creative economy in the contemporary world, including terms, concepts, classification of industries.

The author analyses the Japanese way to a global scientific and technological leadership basing on a selective R&D strategy. He describes the system of main tasks to be solved on the basis of R&D achievements for raising the socioeconomic level of Japan. It is emphasized a significant role of the government in supporting the newest directions of technological progress such as «Large Projects», ERATO, PRESTO etc. Some principal measures for promoting and estimating activities of researchers and inventors are considered in details. The article provides an outline of the R&D priorities presented in the national Science and Technology Basic Plans - «Green innovations», «Life innovations», «Cyberspace & Physical Space Technologies». It contains a description of concrete directions and topics examined by Japanese experts in the S&T forecasts prepared by the National Institute of Science and Technology Policy.

Japan is neighbor of Russia and 3^rd economy in the world, effectively integrated in global production and sales chains. All the post-war years our countries were trying to settle political differences and to join economic potentials to accelerate their development and to harmonize the balance of power in the region. With the coming to power of Shinzo Abe, Japan has been making active and pragmatic steps in this direction. The author analyzes the emerging perspective based on his 25 years experience with Japanese companies and organizations.

The article examines the perception of power of Sengoku daimyo by samurai in Japan during the Sengoku period using “Koyogunkan” as a main source. It is one of the most important sources on the Japanese history of the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Early Modern Age. According to “Koyogunkan” the character of daimyo determines the personal qualities and manners of his samurai. Military valor, perfection on the “way of war” is regarded as one of the main advantages of a ruler. Positive and negative images of power are mainly constructed on the basis of Confucian, not Buddhist ideas and concepts.

Regarding the reception of Adam Laxman’s expedition, the first Russian embassy to Japan, the actual head of Japanese government Matsudaira Sadanobu called to act in accordance with «ritual» and «law». Based on a number of primary sources concerning Adam Laxman’s expedition, the article is an attempt to find out the meaning that Matsudaira Sadanobu implied by these terms.

This article presents two books by a French journalist and analyst Reginald Kann (1876-1925) “Diary of a War Correspondent on the Far East: Japan, Manchuria, Korea” (1905) and| “Report on Formosa” (1907; published 2001). Accredited with Japanese Manchurian Army during the war with Russia later he visited Taiwan by the order of French Colonial and Navy Ministries Kann, collected and analyzed data on Japanese army, military, continental and colonial policy, military and economic potential of the first Japanese colony.

The article is devoted to the activity of the Japanese military intelligence against Russia during Russo-Japanese War in 1904-05 based on Japanese and Russian archival documents.

Yanagita (Matsuoka) Kunio earned such a broad popularity that researchers seldom can get. Especially in such narrow field as ethnology. In prewar period Yanagita was not very famous but after the war his activity was recognized by the government and by Japanese. This is due not only to his fruitful research of reality but also to the fact that he constructed this reality labeled as Japanese monoethnic nation which included Okinawians.

The Miroku’s iconography forms the central theme of the present article which introduces the creations of the Buddha of Future that survive today in the temples of ancient capitals. The wooden, bronze, clay, stone sculptures symbolize the aesthetic achievements of the age, which produced a number of Miroku’ images of such beauty and technical perfection, that they rightly stand among the sculptural masterpieces of the world. Often the unknown masters of Japanese plastic art carved an astonishing number of superlative works in caves and on cliff surfaces.

The paper focused on main trends of Japanese heraldry’ development in the Muromachi (1333-1573) and Azuchi-Momoyama (1573-1603) periods. In the XIV-XVI centuries number of heraldic symbols vastly increased, thousands of people from aristocracy and other social classes were involved in the permanent civil war thus they created their own family crests. In few words, these periods can be characterized as unsystematic heraldic creativity. However, at the same time role of Japanese heraldry in the war art and authority of some family crests were so highly appreciated that in the XVI centuries shogun and other powerful daimyos published some heraldic handbook. It was the first experience in the history of Japanese heraldry to study and systematize the knowledge about heraldic symbols.

The article deals with European, American and Japanese Zen temples. I consider various types of Zen centers in the West: big monasteries, local Zen dojos and Buddhist-Christian communities, - and various types of their activities. The main goals of Zen practice in the West are analysed as compared to Japanese Zen Buddhism. In the West there are practices for development of mindfulness, of the sense of presence here and now, and some rites which are traditional for Zen. In Japan the latter is the first. Then the monks follow their training to enter the family of patriarchs and only on the last place some techniques to know one’s own self are. Japanese and Western Zen tradition is also considered from the point of genzeriyaku notion and in relation with concepts of Ego in Western and Japanese cultures.

Eastern motifs permeate the entire body of Russian Literature. These motifs not only transform many works of Russian Literature into Oriental novelettes and stories, poems and ballads, but reach into the very heart of poetic vision, transmitting poetic forms, and intruding into the meditations of the poets. The works of Russian writers, which in sum create oriental images of the Ancient East, Palestine, Islamic world, India, China, Japan, are extremely numerous. Sometimes these works reveal certain similarities with the ideas and imagery of West European compositions, sometimes they are substantially different from them. The pieces published here are always peculiar, thus allowing the reader not only to see the East, especially Japan through the eyes of Russian writers, but also enabling him to better understand Russia itself through its vision of the East.

The article examines the key issues and trends in Japan's relations with leading States of East Asia and the United States in 2016 - early 2017. Given the author's assessment of the prospects of these relations.

The article analyses the external and domestic factors of rapprochement in the Russian-Japanese relations in 2016-2017, among which a special emphasis is placed upon the strategic developments in North-East Asia, as well as the Chinese and the American factor. The author discusses in detail the main milestones of the political dialogue between the two countries, focusing on the official visit of President Vladimir Putin to Japan in December 2016. The article concludes that Japan in its dialogue with Russia, prioritizes the national security aspects, whereas for the Russian Federation with respect to Japan the economic development items are more important.

The paper deals with various negotiation tactics used by the Japanese diplomacy toward USSR and Russian Federation in the late 1980 - beginning of 2000’s, and often use nowadays. The attention was payed to five negotiation tactics, including «face-to-face diplomacy», «pressure tactics», «leader negotiations». The analysis was carried out on the base of historical context, aiming to estimate the efficiency of applied tactics for the construction of positive and fruitful Japanese-Russian dialogue at the end of XX - beginning of XXI century.

The article is an extended introduction to the Russian translation of a chapter “Japanese political culture” from a recent monograph by a prominent political thinker Inoguchi Takashi “Seiji riron” (“Political Theory) issued in 2015 by Minerva Publishers. The chapter contains a comprehensive analysis of Japan's political culture, of various factors of its formation (historical and geographical, spiritual, religious, political, socio-cultural), etc. Fundamental doctrines and concepts, as well as the characteristics of political culture that existed in Japan during major periods of history, specific characteristics of the key parameters of the Japanese polity, institutions, and mechanisms of their functioning are also covered by professor Inoguchi. The author of the article commenting on the chapter also analyzes the very notion of "political culture" and its various interpretations by modern political scientists, as well as the set of arguments by the Japanese political philosopher concerning the differences between Western and non-Western political cultures.

This publication is the translation from Japanese of a chapter “Japanese political culture” from a recent monograph “Seiju riron” (“Political Theory) by the distinguished political scientist Inoguchi Takashi, issued in 2015 by Minerva Publishers. His long-time research is not limited by traditional approaches to political culture, which include the investigation of mass consciousness and institution analysis. The researcher showed that the consideration of the specifics of such phenomena as trust and domination of collectivist values appeared to be insufficient to provide a comprehensive and adequate picture of the Japanese political culture. Neither excessively stressing individualism or collectivism, nor extremely underlining trust or distrust, Japanese political culture transforms itself according to endogenous and exogenous changes. The present research includes the conceptualization of such fundamental factors as historical narrative, historical memory, socio-political myths, identity, which are no less important than factors such as the political system design and the specific ratio of political forces.

The article deals with the approach to the interpretation of Japanese waka poetry presented in Jikkinsho setsuwa collection (mid XIII century). The conception of waka in this text proceeds from the words about the miraculous power of poetry in Ki-no Tsurayuki’Preface to "Kokinshu" anthology (early X century). On many examples from the life of Heian poets, the compiler of Jikkinsho discusses the role of poetry in such spheres as human communication andshintoworship. The compiler examinees the relation between various "ways" of one’s talent realization (waka and kanshi poetry, music eta). He demonstrates the usefulness of poetic skills in private and public life, the importance of the ability to understand other people's poetical works and judge them judiciously. The main condition for success in everything that concerns waka, as in other worldly affairs, is relevance, compliance with current circumstances.

This article gives a brief overview of key literary entertainment in Japan, by attempting to analyze the use of poetry within the country’s culture of gaming that can be traced back to the Heian era (794-1185). Over time, Japanese gaming traditions and therefore its series of iconic intellectual entertaining games have turned into symbols of the country’s national culture which continue to be studied both nationally within and abroad. For example, one popular game of poetic cards was based on the famous poetic anthology of the XIII century “One hundred poems by one hundred poets” (“Hyakunin isshu”) in the XVII century. This alone shows the great role within literary and poetic arts, underlying the foundations of the traditional written and everyday culture of Japan. Today, Japanese society continues to successfully develop new forms of national culture archetypes.

Shotetsu (1381-1459) is a scholar and poet of the Muromachi period. Nagusamegusa is a travel diary that was written in 1418 about his journey from Kyoto to Owari. Shotetsu left the capital in spring and went north-east to Kiyosu, where he wrote Nagusamegusa. The diary can be divided into two parts: travelogue with poems about meisho and literature part about Genji monogatari and different ways to write a poem. This travel diary not only shows Shotetsu’s poetic talent but gives an insight into understanding of Genji monogatari and its history in 15^th century.

Yokai - supernatural beings of Japanese mythology - are an organic part of Japanese culture from antiquity to modern times. Yokai are the basis of folklore culture, which determines the consciousness and life of the Japanese. The article deals with the history of the appearance and existence of the yokai in folklore, classical literature and fine arts, the process of yokai’s transformation in history is analyzed. The author offers his own classification of fantastic creatures in Japan, examines the factors that influenced the changes in the categorical names of yokai - and how they fit into the popular beliefs of different eras.

Dazai Osamu is one of the most impressive figures of Japanese I-novel (watakushi-shosetsu) - genre which reached its peak in the 20^th century. Perceiving literature art as the only possible “saving grace” in his entire life, writer expressed his agonizing tries of reconsidering such kind of human existence from which he was “disqualified” by himself on the pages of his final novel - 'No Longer Human’. Publication is dedicated to the analysis of confessional features taking preference over Dazai’s art, and also to the investigation of his views on human existence from the point of the leading existential ideas.