Russian-Japanese relations have been developing not by themselves but were a result of a broader historical and cultural context. In the evolution of bilateral relations not only short-term (political) factors were important. Long-term cultural factors should be also considered.

The article analyses the domestic factors of Russian foreign policy towards Japan. The decision-making in this sphere is viewed in terms of the role played by various actors, and the points of view existing in today’s Russia over the development of relations with Japan.

The article investigates the role and place of toponyms in political culture of medieval Japan. Research of place names demands interdisciplinary approach. A toponym can be considered to be a so called hyperlink, having clicked on it you open a never-ending chain of cultural, historical, political, literary images, events and phenomena. The exact localization of an event or phenomenon is of particular importance in the conditions of insular territory, relief features, distribution and stability of animistic beliefs in Japan. A complete address of an event or a phenomenon most often includes toponyms of the province, county, village or some concrete place that almost always allows to discover the specified object on a map. Moreover, the geographical objects once introduced into cultural context become places of worship, sources of inspiration for many generations and are extremely seldom changed. Toponyms are a component of names of deities, names of emperors and members of imperial family. Place names were also important for determining and fixing state borders. In the article we analyze the history, of origin and existence of toponyms, which make the base of political, historical and cultural image of the country: name of the country (Yamato - Nihon), name of the highest mountain (Fuji). Besides, we investigate as an example of an important element of the political and administrative structure of the medieval state the place name of such an object as a territorial barrier (Shirakawa), little known today. Being onomastic on the whole, a toponym keeps stability and invariance, allows to save historical information, to be a time indicator in written culture, i.e. using M. M. Bakhtin's term, to form a chronotope of culture. Bases of Japanese political culture up to the 20^th century were geographical determinacy of insular mentality and correlation with the imperial myth. This has defined special attention to place names in Japanese cultural tradition.

The article analyzes the situation established in the past ten years in the youth segment of the Japanese labor market. The author shows shifts in the structure of youth employment as well as differences in the state of different age cohorts and in the character of employment of young men and women. Special attention is being drawn to some social problems that the Japanese youth faces as a result of changes in the structure of demand at the Japanese labor market.

The Jikkinshōsetsuwa collection [Collected Admonitions in Ten Sections, 1252] contains stories and discourses interesting from the point of view of history of some concepts which play a significant role in Japanese culture as a whole. Being based on this original source, the article presents a range of meanings of the word ”urami” [bitterness] and a variety of contexts for its interpretation, including poems by Chinese and Japanese poets, Buddhist texts, etc.

This essay reviews the works of a world-known political studies researcher, Inoguchi Takashi, on current Japanese politics and political science. Although political science emerged in the 20th century, its origin, according to Inoguchi, can be found in ancient philosophy conceptions of Greece, Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, or China. The key point emphasized by Inoguchi, is the deep distinction between Abrahamic and Dharmic traditions. The former can be associated with Christianity, Islam, and Judaism and focuses on standardization and unification, whereas the latter is associated with Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism and Shintoism and focuses on embracing diversity and respecting differences. Hence appears Inoguchi’s central conclusion: “Neither Western political science, nor non-Western political science exists; there is political science of embracing and equilibrating two traditions - Abrahamic and Dharmic.

An International Conference dedicated to Roman N. Kim, a prominent East Asian studies researcher and writer, opened on May 26, 2016 in the Academic Council Hall of the IFES RAS The conference, hosted by Institute of Far Eastern Studies of Russian Academy of Sciences, has been attended by historians, political studies researchers, literary critics from Russia, Republic of Korea, Japan and the USA, as well as family members of R. N. Kim. The addresses and speeches delivered were devoted to his biography and literary works, which had exerted great influence on the genre of political detective in Soviet literature, especially upon such famous writers, as V. Vardamatski and Yulian Semyonov. There is a high probability that the literary and cinematic image of the famous Soviet spy Maxim M. Isaev (Stirlitz), Julian Semyonov’s literary hero, has been suggested by Roman N. Kim, who had shared the experience of working for the Secret Intelligence in the Russian Far East during the 1918-1922 civil war. Roman Kim was one of the first employees of the Soviet Secret Service, who have later become professionally engaged in literary activity. He was one of the first writers of his time who have estimated the vector of literature development towards documentary prose up to the state where it actually merges with non-fiction literature. Kim was one of the first to use specific literary devices and methods, drawing on experience of journalists, documentary prose writers and scientific researchers. Many pages of his biography are still unknown. Not much is known about his family roots in Korea, nor about his mother’s, his family members there have not been found.