As a result of the ageing of the population, shifts in the structure of households, changes in the labor market in the last two to three decades, in Japan, there is a gradual strengthening of the initial income disparity, as well as some increase in relative poverty rate. However, through the mechanisms of redistribution of income embedded in the pension system and medical insurance system, as well as through the provision of material support to the least protected segments of the population, the state has managed to restrain these processes. Measures taken to support families with children in recent years have been particularly important. They made it possible to reduce the rate of relative child poverty and keep income inequality among this group of families on a relatively low level. Obviously, current income, by which the level of relative poverty and income inequality are measured, cannot clearly indicate that a family or a particular person live in poverty. In addition to the current income, the standard of living also depends on the amount of financial savings, the availability of real estate, the possession of securities, etc. For example, older citizens, who are among the least well-off in terms of current income, have the largest share of the country’s accumulated financial assets. The results of opinion polls conducted annually by the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office show that the changes taking place in the country have not led to the transformation of the Japanese “middle class society” into a “divided society”. For more than half a century, the absolute majority of the Japanese, about 90 percent, when asked how they would rate their families’ standard of living, chose the answer “middle level”. At the same time, in the composition of the middle class, there was a shift towards the increasing share of the more well-off (middle and higher) strata. In general, Japanese society remains healthy and prosperous. As for poverty, unlike Russia, where it is a consequence of blatant social injustice and extreme social contrasts, in Japan, in our opinion, it is not systemic and arises as a result of some particularly unfavorable, exceptional circumstances in which a family or a person find themselves.

The problem of environmental conservation remains one of the most urgent both for individual countries and on the global scale. Japan deservedly occupies a high place among the nations that have achieved notable success in creating environmentally decent living conditions for their citizens – both living and future generations.

However, already in the 1980s–1990s, with the expansion of the scale of environmental impact and changes in the requirements of citizens to the state of the environment, the very concept of environmental quality expanded and became more complex. In these conditions, it was necessary to revise the concept of environmental regulation, including its financial and economic foundations, both at the national and international level.

In this article, the author attempts to analyze the model of circulating and ecological economy – a large-scale and multi-level concept of national environmental policy, “combining actions to achieve a sustainable future”. The main distinguishing feature of the current stage of solving environmental problems is the focus on the use of built-in regulatory mechanisms. The modern concept of Japan’s environmental policy is based on the principle of partnership of all stakeholders, which implies joint responsibility (including financial responsibility) of business, the state, and society, changing the behavioral models of all actors, people’s lifestyle, and the system of state regulation.

The main attention of the study is paid to the formation of a modern model of environmental policy financing. The author concludes that, nowadays, the very concept of financing this policy in its traditional sense is becoming a thing of the past: now we are talking about a system of multi-channel financing for environmentally sustainable development. The article analyzes the main components of this system, reveals the features of investment and credit activities of state and semi-state banks, corporations, and foundations, as well as the corporate sector in the field of green financing, examines the problems of greening the tax system, as well as the practice of applying the principles of responsible investment (ESG-investment) in Japan, including the development of the “green bonds” market, which is becoming an increasingly dynamic segment of green finance.

Despite the active efforts of the government and society towards building an eco-friendly, sustainable society and economy, the transition of the entire economy to an environmentally sustainable development model and the transformation of business models face serious problems, many of which are objective in nature. In particular, this applies to the problem of stopping financing energy companies, which can lead to the opposite result and make it impossible for them to reduce their СО² emissions.

In general, as the author summarizes, a number of facts indicate that the Japanese government demonstrates a fairly flexible approach to financing the policy of transition to a low- and carbon-free society and countering climate change. In the governmental, financial, and industrial circles of Japan, the problem of green financing and specific ways and deadlines for building a carbon-free economy continues to be debatable while there is a consensus on the need for such a transition.

In 2020–2021, in Japan, the problems caused by several waves of the COVID-19 pandemic have been added to the challenges related to the aging of the population and the increasing workload of the young generation. Young Japanese face numerous shocks caused by disruptions of educational system, employment, and income, as well as great difficulties regarding job hunting and emotional and psychological problems associated with changes in the usual style of life.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced schools and universities to close and this reality has forced a crash course of online learning and adopting new IT technologies on students and faculty. Digitalization of the education has progressed quickly as a result of the pandemic, and it has many positive effects, such as enabling the youth to continue receiving education and working online. However, a digital “gap” has emerged with regard to young people’s unequal access to technology and various online activities.

The traditional lifestyle of the Japanese people presupposes close and constant interaction between people in companies and school classes. Thus, the social distancing and self-isolation measures required during the pandemic can be perceived as coercive. One of the responses to these challenges was the rapidly spreading practice of onrain dōsei (living together online), when young visitors of video chats do not even communicate, but simply stay online together to go about their daily activities.

In this paper, the above-mentioned range of issues is considered in relation to the Japanese youth, whose problems have already (at the first stage of the epidemic, in 2020 – early 2021) revealed their own characteristics associated with the specifics of the political, economic, social, and everyday life in the country. We compare the Japanese approaches with the methods of solving similar problems used in other countries, firstly in the Asia Pacific and the USA.

This article provides a brief overview of the non-governmental sector in Japan with a particular focus on the activities of a specific organization — the Japan Foundation for Incentive Scholarships for Students (1992–2006). The article provides a brief overview of the non-governmental sector in Japan, considers general issues of its development, features and legal support for the activities of NGOs, as well as the most common types of NGOs in Japan. As an example of a non-governmental organization, the article presents the Japan Foundation for Incentive Scholarships for Students of the Former Soviet Union, created in 1992 (since 2000 — Japan Foundation for Incentive Scholarships for Russian Students). Its peculiarity is that the object of its activity are citizens of other countries. Fundraising for assistance is carried out on the basis of personal participation of Japanese citizens. The foundation’s activities are illustrated by letters of its fellows, as well as letters from Japanese citizens. In the article, the author uses materials about the work of the Foundation published in the media, as well as personal materials of active participants of the foundation. The mechanisms of perception and understanding of information by the subjects of the fund’s activities and channels of information transmission are considered using the example of two publications of the organization: “Konnitiva” in Russian and “O genki desu ka” in Japanese.

The author concludes that this foundation is an interesting example of amateur civil society organizations in Japan that operate on private donations and funds that come to the foundation in the form of contributions from various public organizations. The foundation belongs to the type of small NGOs created to solve a specific problem and, to do this, it unites around itself those who agree with the goals of the organization, methods of its activities, and are ready for personal participation. Membership in such organizations is usually ensured on the basis of the participation of the whole family or the “inner circle” of activists. At the same time, the leaders are most often authoritative citizens of older ages, who, on the one hand, have a clear desire to be useful to their community, and, on the other hand, have enough time and opportunities for such activities.

The article examines the main types of mound-burials 墳丘墓 of the Yayoi period (ca. 5^th c. BC – 3^rd c. AD), in particular: round (円形周溝墓) and square moated precinct burials (方形周溝墓) with one or two projections, square mounds with four corner projections (四隅突出形墳丘墓) of the San’in region, large round and square mound-burials (with projections) of Late Yayoi, ‘Makimuku-style’ keyhole mounded burials of the transition period from Yayoi to Kofun, etc.

Small moated precinct burials of the Early Yayoi period, with the projection from the main mound serving as a land-bridge access from outside the moat into the burial precinct, were only the forerunner of keyhole tombs of the Kofun period with round or square rear mounds, while large mound-burials of Late Yayoi can be already considered a prototype of the kofun keyhole tombs. Mounded tombs of the Kofun period appeared due to the synthesis of many local features of Late Yayoi mound-burials 墳丘墓, particularly, cylindrical haniwa funerary sculptures developed from the Kibi decorated jar and jar-stand combination placed as offerings on top of the Yayoi mound-burials (Okayama Pref.). There is an obvious genealogical relationship between Late Yayoi mound-burials and mounded tombs of Early Kofun; for example, keyhole tombs with round rear mounds (前方後円墳) represent a development of а round mound-burial with one square projection.

However, keyhole-shaped ‘Makimuku-style’ mounded burials 纒向型前方 後円墳, the immediate mound-burial forerunners of standardized keyhole tomb tradition embodied by Hashihaka kofun (Kinai), appeared in the early to mid-3^rd century AD in the Miwa area of Nara plain at Makimuku site (modern Sakurai city), which was the location of Miwa polity and the birthplace of the nascent Yamato state. Thus, the origins of the keyhole tomb culture, in particular, of the unique keyhole form, — with an obvious significant continental influence — are in the autochthonic tradition of the Yayoi mound-burials. At the same time, the process of politogenesis took place intertwined with the formation of the “Mounded Tomb Culture”. The appearance of the standardized keyhole tombs in different regions signaled development (in the 3^rd – 4^th centuries AD) of a Yamatoled confederacy uniting several chiefdoms bonded by common rituals of chiefly burial and succession.

This article analyzes responses of French politicians and analysts to a then new phase of Japanese expansion into China from July 1937, known in Japan as the “China Incident” because the state of war was never officially proclaimed. The Sino-Japanese War became a piece of “news” of global significance for the French press too, even if not so important as internal political problems or events in neighboring countries like the Spanish Civil War. A well-known analyst, Secretary General of the Committee for Pacific Problems Study Roger Levy (1887–1975) directly connected the changed situation in the Far East with French interests in this region, while his works were marked by an equidistant view of the Sino-Japanese conflict. The “German factor” of this conflict, important for France, emerged soon and was noted by an influential politician Albert Sarrault (1872–1962), a former Prime Minister. Also, for this reason, the position of a right-wing monarchist movement “Action française” was not as explicitly pro-Japanese as it was during the Manchurian Incident of 1931 and the Shanghai crisis of 1932. University of Paris professor Jean Escarra (1885–1955) presented arguments for the Chinese side. Philosopher and political writer Felicien Challaye (1875–1967) condemned Japanese aggression while trying to be equidistant from both sides of the conflict. Famous novelist Claude Farrere (1876–1957) and ex-diplomat turned historian and political analysts Edouard Clavery (1867–1949) took the side of Japan, seeing her as an ally of France in the fight for stability in East Asia. A study of French opinions and responses to Japanese continental policy will enrich our knowledge of this period and will help us to better understand the political philosophy of France as well as the workings of its propaganda and image-making systems.

In early April 1939, in the territory of the British concession in Tianjin, in North China occupied by the Japanese army, an assassination of a customs inspector, who had collaborated with the invaders, brought already apprehensive relations between Tokyo and London to an unprecedented level of hostility. The Japanese military were enraged by the British authorities’ refusal to surrender the assassins. Often operating at its own discretion in China, the Kwantung Army blocked the concession with a clear intention to shut it down. The incident became a pretext for an effort to restrain the extraterritorial rights of Western countries throughout China. The members of the anti-Japanese resistance used foreign concessions in China as a refuge, and, in the case of Tianjin, to keep the pre-war China national currency in foreign banks.

The British could hardly resist the psychological pressure since the Japanese Navy, by that time well-equipped, modern, and numerous, was powerful enough to make it impossible to hope for a successful operation with a small force. Under the blunt and ominous threats from Berlin and the impending war in Europe, London could not dare to redeploy larger forces to the Far East.

Chamberlain hesitated in making a decision, not risking to be accused of repeating the Munich agreement, but ultimately sanctioned the actions of the British ambassador to Tokyo, who was strongly determined to appease the Japanese in order to preserve the concession rights. His “compromise” for resolving the conflict was in fact a defeatist formula. It included the recognition of the “force of circumstances” in China, which justified the right of the Japanese military to act in order to ensure its own security. London recognized as improper any actions harmful to the Japanese military and beneficial to its opponents. It was related not only to the Tianjin concession and to the territory around it, but to China as a whole. This formula looked like a “betrayal” of Chiang Kai-shek, defying his resistance to the Japanese.

The Tianjin talks were heavily influenced by events in Europe, where Germany’s threats against Poland became increasingly overt, as well as by the stalled Anglo-French-Soviet talks in Moscow over a possible alliance against fascist states. The Soviet-Japanese armed clashes on the border of Mongolia and Manchuria (Nomonhan) were relevant too.

At the end of July 1939, Washington’s sudden denunciation of the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation with Japan, signed more than 25 years prior, encouraged the British delegate and led to a stalemate in the Tokyo negotiations until the next blow to the Japanese plans to repeat “Munich” in the Far East — a “betrayal” by its ally, Germany. The Soviet-German non-aggression pact and the devastating defeat of Japan at Nomonhan added the final powerful touches to the picture of the Tianjin Incident, fitting into the canvas of world politics a few days before the start of the Second World War.

The article is devoted to the operations of the Soviet army in South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in August 1945. Its relevance is due to the fact that, over the past decade, researchers have made available documents from Russian and Japanese archives which allow to assess in detail the nature of operations of both sides. Preparations for the liberation of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands began well in advance, in the spring of 1945. The Japanese 5^th Front had significant forces to defend South Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and Hokkaido, but mistakenly believed that the main attack in the northeastern strategic direction would be inflicted by the American forces. Therefore, all combat training activities were aimed at preparing to repel a possible landing by the US Expeditionary Force. Nevertheless, with the beginning of hostilities, units of the 88^th and 91^st Japanese infantry divisions offered fierce resistance to the Soviet troops. The author comes to the conclusion that, during the planning of the Kuril amphibious operation, the commanders of the Kamchatka defensive region and the Petropavlovsk naval base made a number of mistakes, which led to high casualties. At the same time, Soviet soldiers heroically fulfilled their military duty and there are grounds for raising the question of posthumously conferring the title of a Hero of the Russian Federation on some of them.

The article is devoted to the problems of the formation and development of people’s diplomacy in Soviet-Japanese relations in the second half of the 20^th century. The work reconstructs the historical picture of the creation of the Irkutsk branch of the USSR – Japan Society and the participation of this public organization in the development of relations between the two countries. The Irkutsk branch was one of the very first and most active in the structure of the USSR – Japan All Union Society. The organization introduced Japanese culture to Irkutsk residents, helped to establish contacts between the public of the two countries, was responsible for receiving Japanese tourist groups and delegations, organized visits, negotiations, festivals, trade and industrial exhibitions, and other events. The work shows the development of various areas of Soviet-Japanese regional cooperation, primarily with Ishikawa Prefecture, at the level of and through public organizations in the 1960s–1980s. Friendship and cooperation of Irkutsk with the city of Kanazawa has become an important part of the everyday life of the inhabitants of the Irkutsk region. The article was written on the basis of documents from the collection of the State Archives of the Contemporary History of the Irkutsk Region and materials from periodicals.

The article discusses practices for reaching rebirth in the Pure Land recounted in the Zoku Honchō Ōjōden (“Continuation of the Biographies of Japanese Reborn Into the Pure Land”), composed in 1101–1111 by Ōe-no Masafusa. These practices include those mentioned in the stories as being performed during one’s lifetime, intended to show one’s strong devotion to Pure Land, as well as death-bed practices: the description of the death hour is the crucial point of every biography. Some of these practices belong to the Pure Land tradition (the most important to be mentioned is nembutsu, “recollection of the Buddha (Amida)”), while others are more likely to be attributed to different traditions (the most important is reading and reciting the Lotus Sutra): the author obviously does not feel any need to draw a line between them. Normally, these practices are only mentioned in the text and not discussed in detail. This aspect of Zoku Honchō Ōjōden is analyzed in comparison with other important Pure Land texts: Nihon Ōjō Gokuraku-ki (Japanese Records of Rebirth in the Land of Supreme Joy) by Yoshishige-no Yasutane and Ōjōyōshū (The Essentials of Rebirth in the Pure Land) by Genshin. As compared to Nihon Ōjō Gokuraku-ki, in Zoku Honchō Ōjōden, much more emphasis is placed on the death-bed practices than on the lifetime actions and evidence of rebirth. Often, the text focuses on the state of mind of the dying person, his or her determination in performing death-bed practices. In his work, Ōe-no Masafusa leans on the idea expressed in Ōjōyōshū that these are the last moments of life that are decisive and determine one’s rebirth, illustrating it with examples.

The paper analyzes the history of female sovereigns’ reigns in the early history of Japan as described in Gukanshō, the interpretative history of Japan (circa 1221) written by a Tendai school monk Jien (1155–1225). The study of the Empresses’ reigns is closely related to the succession debate in contemporary Japan.

Gukanshō is an important milestone in the historical tradition which tells about continuous hereditary monarchy in Japan from ancient times to the present. While describing the reigns of all Japanese rulers, Jien writes about the seven female sovereigns of Japan (legendary Jingū, Suiko, Kōgyoku/Saimei, Jitō, Gemmei, Genshō, Kōken/Shōtoku).

A brief description of the Empresses’ reigns is summarized in the paper. The article compares the order of the Empresses’ reigns as featured in Gukanshō and in the traditional order of the Imperial House.

The paper also focuses on Jien’s interpretation of these female sovereigns in terms of his historical theory. Jien put these reigns in the period when the sovereigns ruled with the help of assistants and (or) regents. Jien explained the reigns of female rulers supported by their assistants through the inevitable action of the dōri principles. They are: (1) departure from “correct” succession (the throne not passed linearly, from father to son); (2) the reign of sovereigns not comparable to sovereigns of ancient times (Emperors were assisted in ruling and female reigns were possible).

These principles were caused by the general degradation of the kalpa and by the need to adapt to this period.

The article precedes a translation (from Classical Japanese into Russian) of excerpts from Gukanshō describing the Empresses’ reigns.

Dazai Osamu, a watakushi-shōsetsu author, did not restrict himself to using only the “autobiographical” kind of literature materials. Seeking new plots for his writings, Dazai often referred to the stories of classical Japanese literature, and also tried to find an inspiration in Western literature, especially in works by European writers.

His work “Women’s Duel” (1940), a literary adaptation of the eponymous story (1911) by a German author Herbert Eulenberg, became an attempt to create a novel literary phenomenon (which was somehow barely noticed by literary critics and scholars) of “adapted confessional metafiction”. Although this work has a complicated genre structure, it still contains the majority of the typical themes of Dazai’s writing and also discusses some tendencies in Japanese literature the writer himself witnessed. Although Dazai did not make any major changes to the plot of the original story, he managed to challenge the indifference and objectivity of descriptions that are typical for the literary school of naturalism. While Eulenberg is describing his characters in a third-person narrative, Osamu gives the floor to every character, making them play a role of “conduits of subjectivity”.

As it is known, Dazai read the Japanese translation of Eulenberg’s story made by Mori Ōgai. A comparative analysis of the original story and its Japanese translation made by the researcher Kuzumi Kazuo makes us assume that Ōgai’s original intention was not to make a translation as such but rather to make an adaptation in order to expand the original text. This fact makes the genre structure of Dazai’s work even more complicated.

A structured analysis of “Women’s Duel” based on the explanation of the work’s genre, compositional, and thematic features will let us take a step away from Dazai’s image of a watakushi-shōsetsu’s writer and focus on his features of a distinctive literary stylist.

The purpose of this article is to highlight the history of translations into Russian and the study of works of the Japanese genre of setsuwa in Soviet and Russian Japanese studies. The setsuwa genre is a short-form parable story with a didactic ending, which is based on an entertaining story from the life of Buddhist saints, righteous monks, hermits, as well as stories about the fall, karmic retribution, and the main ideas of Buddhism. Collections of short Buddhist stories appeared in Japan along with the spread of Buddhism; the earliest collections of Buddhist setsuwa date back to the turn of the 8^th–9^th centuries. By the 11^th century, there appears a division in the setsuwa genre between purely Buddhist and secular setsuwa, due to which purely Buddhist stories lose their harsh didactic coloring and acquire new plots and heroes: those of court anecdotes, funny cases with commoners, stories about the supernatural and magic.

Collections of setsuwa, especially Konjaku Monogatari-shū (今昔物語集 Tales of Times Now Past, 12^th century) and Uji Shūi Monogatari (宇治拾遺物語, Tales Collected from Uji, 13^th century), were very popular among the Japanese, but they officially entered the collection of classical Japanese literature in the first half of the 20^th century only due to the efforts of the reformer of Japanese scholarship Haga Yaichi. By the 1970s, in European Japanese studies, there were already full or partial translations and studies of such monuments of setsuwa as Konjaku Monogatari-shū and Uji Shūi Monogatari, but, in Soviet Japanese studies, only the first timid steps were taken. The ideas of Marxism penetrated all spheres of academic life, and translation and publishing activities were no exception. In the early Soviet period, the preparation of translations of works of the setsuwa genre, given the strong religious and magical component of its plot, was unthinkable and ideologically “dangerous”. In chronological order, the article highlights the main stages of the study, translation, and popularization of the setsuwa genre by such Soviet and Russian Japanese studies scholars as V. Sanovich, T. Red’ko-Dobrovolskaya, G. Sviridov, A. Meshcheryakov, N. Trubnikova, D. Kiknadze.

The article discusses the concept coined by Japanese manga researcher Natsume Fusanosuke. In comparison with other researchers who pay attention to the plots in manga, Natsume Fusanosuke paid his attention to the visual components: signs and symbols in manga, as well as the type of lines and functioning of the panel. This approach is related to the field of semiotics. We will try to understand the essence of this approach, also known as “manga grammar” (manga bunpō). The main object of the study for us will be Natsume’s book Why Is Manga So Interesting? (Manga wa naze omoshiroi no ka, 1997), the first section of which is compiled from the previously written book The Science of Manga by Natsume Fusanosuke (Natsume Fusanosuke no manga gaku, 1985). In his 1997 book, the researcher refers to the works of various manga authors — Tezuka Osamu, Saito Takao, Azuma Hideo, Tanioka Yasuji, Tsuge Yoshiharu, etc., who have their own unique graphic style, and then proceeds to analyze manga expressions. The article pays close attention to the integral elements of manga and their interpretation by Natsume Fusanosuke. The function of each of these elements is described in more detail: the function of lines, the function of panel, the function of text, the function of sound effects (onomatopoeia), the function of symbols (manpu). The article also shows how Natsume Fusanosuke’s semiotic concept, where all elements are analyzed and systematized, is based on the concepts of other researchers — for example, Kandinsky’s theory of abstract drawing described in “Point and Line to Plane” (1926).

This is a brief report about the international scientific and practical conference “Japanese Language in Educational Space”, held on March 11–13, 2021 at the Institute of Foreign Languages of the Moscow City University.

The first conference on teaching the Japanese language was held in 1994 at the IAAS Moscow State University named after M. V. Lomonosov. Later, such conferences began to be held, first, once a year, and, later, twice a year. These conferences deal with the problems of teaching the Japanese language, as well as various methodological, linguistic, and linguo-cultural issues. The organizers of this conference are Moscow City University (MGPU), the Association of Teachers of the Japanese Language of the Russian Federation and the CIS countries, and the Japan Foundation.

These conferences are necessary to improve the methodological and professional level of Japanese language teachers. They are of great importance for young teachers, since there is an opportunity to listen to reports at the conference on various issues of methods of teaching the Japanese language, reports on linguistics and linguo-cultural studies. The program also includes reports in Japanese, which helps to improve the language proficiency of teachers. A collection of articles is published based on the materials of the presentations made at the conference.

The article highlights the peculiarities of Japan’s approach to the Quadrilateral Strategic Dialogue, the Quad, in the Indo-Pacific region. Tokyo initiated this framework since 2007, when S. Abe proposed establishing permanent cooperation between Japan, the USA, Australia, and India. For several reasons, including the departure of S. Abe from the post of prime minister, the Quad ceased to exist. In 2017, Tokyo returned to the idea of reviving the quadrilateral dialogue, seeing this as one of the ways to keep the US focused on the region and balance China’s influence. The resumption of quadrilateral cooperation in 2017, in the face of more pronounced contradictions between the members of the Quad and China, marked new priorities for Tokyo’s regional agenda. Interest in quadrilateral cooperation is closely related to the strategy of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific, put forward by S. Abe in 2016, which provides for close political interaction with key players in the region and active infrastructure construction. Y. Suga’s government continued the foreign policy course proclaimed by S. Abe, and the attention of the Biden administration to the Quad gives reason to believe that this direction will become a key one in Japan-US cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. Participation in the Quad is a logical continuation of Japan’s close bilateral and trilateral dialogue with the United States, as well as with India and Australia, relations with which are reaching a level that can be characterized as quasi-alliances. At the same time, Japan is interested in the Quad not being perceived as an exclusive format that reduces the establishment of the rules of conduct in the region to the will of four players. Regarding the Quad as a tool to contain China, Tokyo emphasizes the open nature of this framework and seeks to expand the format of interaction that would include ASEAN countries and European partners.