The article examines the history of the emergence and decline of the once influential leftist forces in Japanese politics. In the forthcoming elections in the fall of 2025, the Social Democratic Party (formerly the Japan Socialist Party) has every chance of losing their single seat in the more important lower house of the Japanese Diet. Another “left-wing” force, the communists, retain their positions, but they occupy about two percent of the total number of seats. Just as, before Japan, it was in European countries, one should, of course, seek the reasons for the current crisis in the fundamental changes in the social class structure and the employment structure caused by the waves of scientific and technological progress. The national specificities associated with the inertia of political preferences should be mentioned too. The pre-war history of Japanese politics exerted an influence on the formation and development of left-wing parties. It was related to the movements of Christian socialism, the Fabian Society, anarchist communism, and anarcho-syndicalism in Europe. The victory of the Bolsheviks in the 1917 revolution is directly related to the birth of the Japanese Communist Party as the “Japanese section of the Comintern.” In the post-war period, political events in neighboring China and the Korean Peninsula had a significant impact as well.
An analysis of the current situation of the left-wing parties shows that their decisive rejection of the now infamous Marxist-Leninist provisions of their political programs, an openly critical attitude towards the experience of building socialism in the Soviet Union and China, and the attempts to prove that the negative experience of these countries is the result of distorting the essence of socialism and perverting its principles do not help. The criticism does not increase their authority and ability to retain the sympathy of their supporters and attract new ones. Complete rejection of Marx and Lenin in favor of Lassalle and Bernstein by SDP was not helpful and was perceived as an opportunistic move and a sign of willingness to sacrifice principles for the sake of political gain.

In the modern world, primarily in developed countries, education has become the main factor of intergenerational social mobility. Sociologists judge the degree of openness or rigidity of the social structure by whether the influence of “birth circumstances” on access to education increases or, conversely, softens. Although higher education has become widespread in Japan by now, this does not mean that the degree of social inequality in this area has decreased. Structuring children’s chances of access to higher education along the lines dividing society into different social strata begins here at the stage of schooling – first, in secondary school, and then in high school.
The inequality of chances that forms at the stage of school education affects the choice of university rank and directions of specialization by children and their parents, employment opportunities in the future, determining, in fact, the entire life path of a person. Based on the works of famous Japanese sociologists and the data of Japanese statistics, the author shows that the Japanese education system plays a dual role. On the one hand, it provides a chance to break away from one’s social roots and move up the social ladder to an increasing number of young people. On the other hand, it preserves and reproduces social inequality.
According to calculations by Japanese sociologists, indicators of relative social mobility, reflecting the ratio of chances to access higher education for people from different backgrounds, were remarkably stable throughout the post-war period. On the one hand, this does not confirm the widely accepted thesis about the growing inequality in education in the last two or three decades. On the other hand, it allows us to assert that both before and now Japanese society is a kakusa shakai, or a gap society. However, the increase of the share of second-generation university degree holders in the structure of Japanese university graduates suggests that the scale of the influence of the factor of social inequality in education will gradually decrease.

The article focuses on the sociocultural aspects of attracting foreign labor to the Japanese service sector in light of the current labor shortage in Japan. The process of attracting foreign labor is analyzed in terms of Japan’s openness to interacting with other cultures and considering the Japanese model of borrowing and processing the elements of external cultures. The Japanese service model is viewed as a unique sociocultural phenomenon and a field of intercultural interaction that demonstrates Japan’s readiness to engage with the global community.
The author aims to illustrate, using the Japanese hospitality industry as an example, the interaction between Japanese and non-Japanese values, and to delve into the sociocultural aspects of the current economic challenges Japan’s service industry is facing. The first part of the article explores the evolution of Japanese service in the post-war period, from the gradual increase in the service sector’s contribution to Japan’s GDP to the international promotion of the traditional concept of omotenashi as a unique way of welcoming guests for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The second part examines the crisis situation in the Japanese labor market and its impact on the service sector today, while the third part discusses the repercussions of the current scenario and the measures Japanese companies are taking to uphold the standard of Japanese service in a diverse sociocultural context.
The author concludes that both Japanese companies and government agencies responsible for immigration policy are cautious in their approach, aiming to minimize external influences on the service industry. While it is crucial for companies to maintain the service standards, the government is seeking to safeguard national interests in the economic and political realms. Amidst increasing intercultural interactions, Japan leans on the concept of omotenashi as a cultural bridge between different societies.

In 1854, the Japanese state had to abandon its 215-year policy of seclusion and unwittingly became part of the world community. Simultaneously, the Crimean War of 1853–1856, the scope of which extended beyond the boundaries of Crimea, raged, with military operations taking place even in the Pacific Ocean. Efimy Vasilyevich Putyatin (1803–1883) eventually succeeded in establishing diplomatic relations between the Russian Empire and Japan in 1855 with the signing of the so-called Shimoda Treaty, despite the challenging circumstances.
After the unfavorable results of the Crimean War for the Russian Empire, the rivalry between Russia and Britain within the context of the “Great Game” continued, and Japan was affected by it already in 1861. The strategically located island of Tsushima caught the attention of the Russian and English fleets. But Russia’s attempt to establish a foothold there failed, and not without the involvement of British diplomats and the military. The so-called “Tsushima Incident,” on the one hand, showed the boundaries of Russia’s capabilities in the Far East at that time. On the other hand, it became the first open conflict between the Russians and the Japanese since the “Golovnin Incident” of 1811, increasing the latters’ fear of the threat from north. Through its mediation, Great Britain was able to further solidify its relations with the Land of the Rising Sun and demonstrated its capabilities in Japan.

The period from the end of the Russo-Japanese War to the 1917 October Revolution was a time of political, economic, and cultural rapprochement between Russia and Japan. Moreover, this rapprochement was observed after the events of 1917 for several more years, since, during the Russian Civil War, Japan supported the anti-Bolshevik forces in the Far East.
The two countries entered the First World War as de facto allies; this alliance culminated in the Treaty of 1916. Its reflection in symbolic actions was also an element of this cooperation. In the years before the First World War, and, actually, during the war, hundreds of Japanese servicemen were given Russian awards. The article analyzes the composition of military personnel, what awards and for what merits were presented to the members of the Imperial House who did military service, diplomats, generals, as well as fleet admirals and naval officers, engineers, and divers.
After October 1917, Japan supported members of the White Movement and Admiral A. V. Kolchak for several more years. In addition, even more active support was provided to Ataman G. M. Semenov. For example, Japanese garrisons were stationed in Transbaikalia starting from the autumn of 1918, when he came to power there. Paradoxically, many Japanese officers and enlisted men were presented with Russian awards during the years of the Civil War, which fact is also confirmed in archival documents.

The article continues to analyze the little-studied aspects of the JapaneseFrench relations during the Second World War – the resistance of the French state (the Vichy regime) and the authorities of French Indochina to the military, political, economic, and propaganda expansion of Japan. The strategic goal of Japan after the military defeat of France in 1940 was to establish control over Indochina. The authoritarian Vichy regime proclaimed a policy of “preserving the empire,” but compromised with Japan because of the inequality of forces in the region and the remoteness of Indochina from the metropole.
Japan exerted pressure on France with the help of its ally Thailand, pushing it to an aggressive war against Indochina. The author examines the process of developing French policy and the actions (as well as inaction) of its leaders and main performers since the autumn of 1940: Head of State Marshal Philippe Petain, heads of government as Vice Prime Minister Pierre Laval and JeanFrançois Darlan, Foreign Ministers Paul Baudouin and Pierre-Etienne Flandin, Colonial Minister Charles Platon, Governor-General of Indochina Jean Decoux, Ambassador to Japan Charles Arsene-Henry, and Ambassador to the US Gaston Henry-Haye.
This article is based on documents, diaries, memoirs, and other evidence of the actors in combination with the latest historical research.

The article addresses the motivation of Japan to join the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy in 1940. The internal political struggle in Japan on this issue is analyzed, with special emphasis on the positions of the main political forces and, first of all, the Army and Navy factions. The main point of contradiction between them was the question of whether Japan should conclude a pact with Germany in the context of its interests regarding the relations with the three major powers – Great Britain, the USA, and the USSR.
According to the author, with the arrival of the second Konoe cabinet, there was a consensus in the Japanese leadership on joining the German-Italian pact. Against the background of Germany’s military victories in Europe and the alleged unwillingness of the United States to curtail the policy of isolationism, Tokyo hoped that this step would fix the division of the spheres of influence of the three powers, within which Japan would receive extensive colonies of European countries in Asia. Japan miscalculated most of the points that led to its decision to join the pact.
Japan failed to use the Axis as a means of “neutralizing” the USSR and the USA. Having found itself on the side of Nazi Germany in the outbreak of the World War, Japan lost any, including diplomatic, opportunities to retreat, opposing itself to a much more powerful coalition in economic and military terms, which ultimately led it to disaster. Japan’s calculation on German mediation in achieving JapaneseChinese peace would also be untenable: Chiang Kai-shek rejected any attempts in this direction, seeing through the strategy of Japan and Germany to Vichy-ize the government of the Republic of China.

Dainihonkoku Hokkekyō Genki (Records of the Miracles of the Lotus Sūtra in the Great Country of Japan, 1040s), discussing various ways of venerating the most important book of the Buddhist canon, at the same time gives a unique picture of Japan in the mid-Heian era. The ‘Country of Japan’ as the place of accomplishment of the deeds predicted in the Sūtra is mentioned in the remarks of the characters looking at the country from the outside: from China, from the Korean Peninsula, from the world of the gods, from the Dark Road, where judgment is carried out on the dead. The narrator speaks about ‘Japan’ when he notes the beginning of customs new to the country, but known to the rest of the world, dating back to the Lotus Sūtra.
The Hokke Genki differs from other Heian texts in its broader geographical coverage, although there is no description of local traditions associated with the Sūtra. The narrator’s attention is focused on Mount Hiei near the capital, where the monks of the Tendai school study the Sūtra, as well as on the famous mountains and shrines where the common veneration of gods and Buddhas is customary. At the same time, the veneration of the Kumano and Mitake mountains already looks well-known, and the Atago caves near the capital, the “hell valley” in the Tachiyama Mountains in the Etch region, and the mountains in the Hōki region are described as if their shrines were still only familiar to few people. Many stories are related to pilgrimage routes, dangerous but promising amazing encounters. The pilgrim’s goal does not seem to be walking the path prescribed in the Sūtra, but rather conveying its teaching (about the ability of every being to become a Buddha) to as many inhabitants of the country as possible.

At a time when many provincial daimyō were at war with their neighbors, and Oda Nobunaga was gradually becoming a central figure in the political arena, the renga poet Satomura Jōha and his disciples made a journey to Suruga province to see Mt. Fuji. Jōha described this journey in his travel diary, Journey to See Fuji. The diary clearly shows both the features of medieval travel diaries, such as the inclusion of renga and some waka, the strong influence of Ise Monogatari, references to Genji Monogatari and the diaries of Jōha’s predecessors, other renga poets. Journey to See Fuji also bears the characteristics of early modern travel diaries: the absence of a sense of forcedness and hardness of the journey (instead, Jōha is enjoying his travel), a detailed listing of the names of people met on the way, realistic depiction of places he visited, and descriptions of military hostilities.
It is curious that, despite stating seeing Mt. Fuji as the main reason for his journey, Jōha writes about it very little. This diary is interesting not only for its literary and poetic part but also as a historical source from which it is possible to reconstruct the network of relationships between famous figures of the sixteenth century.

In Japan, there are many regional legends and traditions associated with water, fish, and fantastic creatures inhabiting the sea. These legends go back many centuries; the first mentions of large fish are found already in the first Japanese poetic anthology Manyōshū (8^th century) and in the mythological and chronicle text Nihon Shoki (720). In different provinces, legends and traditions vary, some motifs are interpreted differently by folklorists, however, apparently, we can talk about a single body of related texts, united not only by plots where the main characters are whales, dolphins, etc., but also by accompanying actions: matsuri festivals in honor of fish and fishing, ritual performance of magical texts, dancing, songs, cooking, making amulets, etc. The symbolism that unites the theme of fish and fishing in Chinese and Japanese culture is also obvious: wealth and prosperity, which is reflected not only in written monuments, but also in works of art. Whales, for example, are associated with numerous legends, traditions and mythological motifs of local significance, ideas about these mammals as deities of the sea, to whom Shinto shrines are dedicated. Images of fish were part of offerings to the bride’s family due to the auspicious meaning of the item and their ability to bear children. It is noteworthy that the legends about the sea included famous literary and legendary characters and episodes from famous works of Japanese history and literature, such as Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, Manyōshū, Heike Monogatari.

Abrahamic religions have long been the mainstay of many countries around the world. These religions have also reached Japan, and while the situation with Christianity is very positive, Islam still faces difficulties. This “desert religion” came to the Land of the Rising Sun much later than its “sister,” and, despite its rich history, it is in a state of constant turbulence in modern Japan. However, representatives of the religion, both Japanese, such as Noda Shtar, Torajir Yamada, Bumpachirō Ariga, Tanaka Ippei, Umar Mita, and foreigners, such as Abbas Mahmoud Al-Akkad, Qari Sarfaraz Hussein, and Abdurashid Ibrahim, are promoting it in a country to which Islam seems totally unsuited. In modern world, large numbers of Muslims live and work in Japan, among them both Japanese Muslims and immigrants from Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, and Russia.
Mosques, as the largest Muslim religious centers, engage in educational and social activities, as well as building ties with the locals. Finally, there are Islamic NGOs operating in Japan: Japan Islamic Trust (JIT), Japan Muslim Education Trust (JMET), Japan Muslim Association (AJMA), Japan Halal Association (JHA), and other organizations the main task of which is to facilitate and improve the lives of Muslims.
The objectives of this article are to study the stages of the process of Islam’s penetration into Japan and to highlight the contribution of prominent Muslims, both Japanese and foreigners, to the promotion of this religion; to find out what the situation with the contemporary life of Muslims in Japan is, what are the positive and negative aspects, and how Muslim organizations and community participate in the life of Japanese society.

During the Edo period, the Japanese saw images of “other” peoples in Dutch books and maps. The opportunity to see images of “Others” involuntarily gave rise to the idea not only of the plurality and diversity of people in the world, of the level of their civilization and enlightenment, but, most importantly, of the place that the Japanese themselves occupied in this system. The Japanese also saw images of Native Americans on screens and maps.
Not wanting to become a colony like other Asian countries, from the end of the Tokugawa era (1603–1868), Japan began organizing overseas missions and sending promising young Japanese to study in other countries. The main goal was to adopt the experience and achievements of the “enlightened West” and transform Japan into an advanced country that would be able to take its place among the leading powers of the time.
The first official mission to America was sent by the Japanese in 1860. This mission included the future greatest Japanese educator of the Meiji era (1868–1912), Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835–1901). Later, he visited America again, in 1867. He described his memories of these trips in his autobiography, which he dictated in his declining years. These trips served as great assistance for him to write chapters on the United States in the geographical works Description of the Countries of the World (Sekai kuni zukushi, 1869) and The State of Affairs in the West (Seiy jij, 1866–1869). In Fukuzawa’s description, the United States appears as a progressive and dynamically developing country that Japan should emulate.

The article is dedicated to the collection of Japanese artifacts owned by the Samara Regional Art Museum and originally collected by Alfred von Vacano (1846–1929), an Austrian entrepreneur, who established a brewery in Samara back in 1881. The article highlights possible reasons which drove Vacano to acquire Eastern treasures, destiny of the collection through the hundred-year period, nuances of translation work, results and prospects of using the acquired experience.

The article is devoted to the recently deceased outstanding Japanese fashion designers, Mori Hanae, Takada Kenzo and Miyake Issey, who can rightfully be called pioneers of post-war Japanese fashion.
They not only created a cultural phenomenon based on the synthesis of Oriental and Western art, but also made a powerful breakthrough of Japanese clothing into the world’s catwalks, creating new trends which became widespread in many countries. The work highlights the most important moments of their biographies and work.

This work is devoted to the ideological content of one of the most significant Japanese new religious movements of the 19^th – 20^th centuries, Oomotoky, which to a high degree influenced the proselytizing methods and teachings of later new religions, the founders of which were also descendants of Oomoto (in particular, Seicho-no Ie and Sekai Kyseiky). The author attempts to identify the origin of various doctrinal elements of Oomoto, which, as in many other new religious movements, are syncretic in nature, existing side by side with postulates rooted in completely different religions.
The study finds that Oomoto was particularly influenced by late Edo-era kosha folk religious organizations, traditional shamanism, Shinto beliefs and their interpretations within the Kokugaku tradition, as well as selected Buddhist elements taken out of context and ideas from various kinds of Western ideas, which include internationalism and biblical exegesis in its highly simplified, unorthodox, and loose version.
The findings provide a more accurate understanding of the Japanese religious landscape from the late nineteenth century to the present day and help to better understand how Oomoto may have influenced the formation of the teachings of later NRMs. The work is also intended to draw attention to the poorly studied nature of Japan’s new religions in Russian-speaking academia.

Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835–1901) is rightly considered a person who made a significant contribution to introducing Western civilization to Japan. His writings on politics, society, state, pedagogy, i.e., products of “mature” Fukuzawa, are often being studied. However, Fukuzawa’s personality itself usually remains outside the scope of such studies. But it seems extremely important to understand how the personality of this outstanding educator, who dared to raise his hand against the fundamental values of the state and society of the Tokugawa era, was formed. This will allow us to understand not only Fukuzawa himself, but also the type of person who was in demand during the time of revolutionary change.
In 1899 Fukuzawa published his autobiography (Fukuō Jiden). It is considered the first “full-fledged” work of the autobiographical genre in Japan. In this text, with unprecedented frankness for former Japan, the author talks about himself. Fukuzawa dictated the text to a stenographer, so his publication has all the usual properties of spontaneous oral speech: liveliness, vulgarisms, factual errors, repetitions, contradictory statements, spontaneity and some randomness. This does not change the fact that Fukuzawa was an observant man and an excellent storyteller. A significant part of the “Autobiography” is devoted to his childhood and youth, that is, the time when the formation of one’s personality occurs.
In this publication, we provide a translation of a chapter dedicated to Fukuzawa’s studies at the Osaka School of Medicine, which was opened by Ogata Kōan (1810–1863), a famous doctor who practiced European medicine. About three thousand people graduated from his school. In Fukuzawa’s description, the students at this school were characterized by deviant behavior, which provided them with an identity different from the personality type that prevailed in Tokugawa Japan. Many graduates of the Ogata school later became famous and had a significant influence on the appearance of the new Japan, which was significantly different from the old Japan.

The Russo-Japanese war had a dramatic aftermath for Russia, and both contemporaries of the period and historians speculated what was the key moment for Russo-Japanese relations to be improved and to prevent the war. The visit of Itō Hirobumi to St. Petersburg in 1901 is often mentioned as such a moment.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Japan was looking for allies among Western powers to continue its expansion in the Far East. Japanese diplomats in London had consultations considering the conclusion of the Anglo-Japanese alliance. However, Japan had not made the choice yet, as there were supporters of the idea of an alliance with Russia, with Itō Hirobumi and his Seiyūkai political party as one of the most noticeable.
After his resignation as Prime Minister in May 1901, Itō Hirobumi announced his trip to Europe and visit to Saint Petersburg. Even though the trip was claimed to be unofficial, political circles in Europe expected Itō to discuss the project of a Russo-Japanese agreement with the Russian government. At the end of November, Itō indeed went to Saint Petersburg and consulted with Russian ministers about the Korean problem – the main contradiction in the two empires’ relations. However, the visit was unsuccessful. Itō left St. Petersburg and went to London, where, on January 30, 1902, the Anglo-Japanese alliance was signed.
Even though there were opinions expressed by minister Witte and ambassador Izvolsky that Itō’s mission was a real chance to set the controversies and prevent the war, the analysis of the negotiations in Saint Petersburg and such evidence as the memoirs of Hayashi Tadasu, the Japanese ambassador in London, allow us to assert that Itō had given up the idea of a Russo-Japanese alliance before he came to the Russian capital. Even though it does not exonerate the Russian government for its failure to prevent the Anglo-Japanese alliance, it cannot be blamed for Itō’s mission failure; by that time, the possibility of an agreement had been missed.

This article is devoted to the construction of the image of London and Londoners in the early 20th century in the works of a Japanese writer and poet Noguchi Yonejirō (1875–1947) on his first trip to Britain in late 1902. The study utilizes the writer’s autobiography in English and the collection 13 Years of Britain and the United States in Bungo with extracts from his diary entries. The author examines the key characteristics of the city and its inhabitants in Edwardian times, according to Noguchi Yonejirō. It was discovered that the images of London of this period had a common origin – a “pre-image” of an idealized city which formed on the basis of memoirs of 1860–1870s Japanese travelers.
As a result, two contrasting images of London can be seen in Noguchi Yonejirōʼs writings. The first image of London is characterized by the predominance of negative characteristics in the texts of the Japanese writer. The reasons for this were that, in addition to the “pre-image,” Noguchi had been influenced by an earlier trip to the United States of America in 1893–1902 and the subsequent comparison of the British Empire’s capital with the American cities where the writer had previously lived. Later, the gloominess of city was replaced by a romanticized view of it as a graceful lady. The author suggests two reasons for the abrupt transformation of the image of London: the successful publication of the poem collection From the Eastern Sea, which was the purpose of Noguchi’s trip, and the writer’s gradual adaptation to the city, his acquiring ties with the locals, imitating Londoners and copying the habits, traditions, and foundations of the early 20^th century British society.

The article is devoted to identifying the similarities and differences in the historical memory of Japan and the FRG after World War II. These issues are a relevant topic for research in the face of the enduring influence of historical grievances on Japan’s relations with its former victims, in contrast to similar relations of Germany. As a theoretical framework, the paper uses O. Malinova’s approach, which interprets historical memory as a product of social construction and a variation of symbolic politics. In addition, the author used the classification of historical memory proposed by M. Dian. In the scope of the study, the author examines the impact of occupation policies on further development of historical memory in the two countries. The paper compares the original content of the main narratives of memory of the past in each country, the main mnemonic actors promoting them, and the evolution of these narratives from the end of the war to the present day.
The author also highlights the reasons for the differences in the content and evolution of the narratives in Japan and the FRG. The author concludes that, despite a certain similarity of the occupation policy in the two countries, as well as the formation of two traditions (conservative and left-progressive) in historical memory of each of the countries, its content and evolution are seriously different. In the FRG, the conservative tradition initially included the narratives of self-victimization and amnesia, while the progressive tradition included the narrative of repentance; over the years, however, the traditions have evolved from polarization to a consensus around repentance and elements of self-victimization. In Japan, the conservative tradition initially included glorification of the past in addition to self-victimization, i.e., it was more revisionist, while the progressive tradition focused on self-victimization rather than repentance. Over time, the traditions shifted from a consensus around selfvictimization to a sharp polarization: progressives moved to a repentance narrative, while revisionists gained ground among conservatives.

In early 2024, a Saint Petersburg publishing house and independent publishing partner of the State Hermitage Museum “Arka” published a reedition of the catalogue of the exhibition “Kuniyoshi and His Time. Japanese Prints of the 19^th Century. The Utagawa School,” which took place in 1997– 1998. The author of this catalogue is M. V. Uspensky (1953–1997), one of the greatest Russian researchers of Japanese fine art and curator of the museum’s Japanese collection.
Following the original, the central figures of the second edition’s narrative are contemporaries and graduates of the Utagawa school, the artists Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798–1861) and Utagawa Kunisada (1786–1865). Just as in the original, the texts describing their different periods of work are followed by catalogue descriptions. Bat, unlike the first edition, these cataloge descriptions have a larger number of exclusively colored illustrations, some of which are presented for the first time. Moreover, missing sheets of polyptychs from the collections of other museums are also included, which undoubtedly gives a more holistic perception of the works. In total, the catalogue descriptions contain 299 illustrations, 143 of which are by Kuniyoshi and his students, and 156 by Kunisada. As for the texts, they are published without much change, except for the addition of the article “Memorial Portraits and Self-Portraits by Kuniyoshi and His Disciples” and the inclusion of illustrations and images with fragments of kanji texts, seals, signatures, etc. in the narrative.
e narrative. In general, throughout the book, Kuniyoshi and his mushae, to whom twothirds of the book is devoted, are contrasted with Kunisada and his yakushae and bijinga. This allows the author to paint a rather comprehensive picture of the state of ukiyo-e in the first half of the 19^th century.