This paper examines the financial situation of the Tokugawa shogunate in the final stages of its existence during the Bakumatsu period, when the acute manifold crises of the country became evident. The crisis situation was complex and multifaceted and was exacerbated by the outbreak of civil war. At the same time, the various factors of military origin began to dominate only several years before the Meiji Restoration, so military spending was an important, but not the only reason for the deteriorating financial situation of the bakufu. For a long time, the budget of the shogunate government had a significant financial deficit, covered by the supply of additional money, which, with the rise of significant inflation, resulted in the complete bankruptcy of the shogunate. Therefore, bankruptcy was largely inflationary in nature, as the financial collapse was the result of expansion of the money supply and inflation. This, however, was not the exclusive result of the civil war, but also stemmed from key historical developments in foreign policy and foreign economic activity after the opening of the ports.

The article seeks to analyze a new stage in China-Japan relations in 2017-2019 and provide an assessment of the rapprochement in bilateral relations, explain its causes and characterize its depth. The paper begins by analyzing the key characteristics of the relationship before the current period. As a result of the escalation of the territorial dispute and a number of other factors, both China and Japan increasingly viewed each other as security threats and employed a balancing strategy. Strategic competition in Asia became a dominant trend. The following factors contributed to the rapprochement: China’s desire to mend fences with Japan as a result of deteriorating China-US relations and exacerbating strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific, Japan’s wish to hedge the risks of Donald Trump’s inconsistent policy, the interest of both states in expanding economic cooperation, in particular that of China following its economic downturn, the aspirations of the two countries to stabilize their interaction in the East China Sea and avert military escalation, strong leadership and consolidation of power by both nations’ leaders, a certain improvement in the attitude of China’s population towards Japan. A conclusion is drawn that the positive dynamics between China and Japan should be regarded as a normalization of political dialogue and restoration of normal contacts. With no serious transformations of China’s or Japan’s foreign policy and security strategies, it is too early to conclude that a tangible rapprochement is actually taking place. Neither party changed its position on the territorial dispute and they remain strategic competitors for the regional order in Asia. The current stage should be more accurately characterized as conflict management, not conflict resolution. It is likely that a certain improvement of China-Japan relations is to continue in the forms beneficial to both states. However, it is unlikely to transform into tangible rapprochement, with strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific persisting.

Due to the impossibility of achieving “perfect competition” in the labor market (as well as in other markets), which, in theory, should balance the ratio between various components of labor supply and demand through the price mechanism (because of the imperfection of market itself and as a result of the state’s desire to regulate its functioning), various kinds of imbalances and inconsistencies constantly arise here. Thus, under a low level of general unemployment, structural unemployment increases, indicating the discrepancy between the requirements of companies to the quality of the workforce and the professional and qualification structure of workers entering the labor market. As a result, despite a high demand for labor, the level of filling of open vacancies averages no more than 30 %. On the other hand, a rather high level of dismissals of workers (15-15.5 %) indicates the existence of a gap between their expectations regarding work and the actual conditions in which they find themselves. This problem is especially acute in the youth segment of the labor market, indicating that the employment model of Japanese youth, which was formed in the first postwar decades, is increasingly diverging with the needs of young people and the needs of the Japanese economy. The significant differences in the ratio of labor demand and supply between different sectors of the economy, as well as between enterprises of different sizes, have acquired an almost stagnant nature, indicating low mobility of labor force. Finally, the discrepancy in the dynamics of labor productivity and wages became one of the distinguishing features of the last decades. It was formed due to the peculiarities of the dynamics of both indicators in this period, which, in turn, were formed under the influence of a whole range of factors of economic and socio-cultural nature. The imbalances and inconsistencies existing in the Japanese labor market indicate its lack of flexibility and mobility, and this, in turn, impedes a more efficient use of the country's main resource for economic growth - its labor force.

This article studies the relations between Mongolia and Japan, one of its key partners in accordance with the former's “third neighbor” foreign policy concept, in the modern era. The purpose of this research is to determine the following: what are the reasons for the relations with Japan becoming so important for the Mongolians in the post-bipolar period; to what extent the cooperation with Mongolia became beneficial to the Japanese side; what are the main spheres in which the Japanese-Mongolian relations are developing. Having briefly described the ties between Japan and Mongolia during the Soviet period, the author proceeds to analyze their political relations in bilateral and multilateral formats, especially noting the mediating role of Mongolia in resolving the conflict on the Korean Peninsula. The following sphere of examination comprises Japanese gratuitous aid and preferential credits granted to Mongolia, which allowed the former socialist country to overcome the economic crisis of the 1990s and perform the transition to a market economy much easier and afterwards contributed greatly to the development of Mongolia’s strategically important industries, such as mining, infrastructure construction, energy, and human resources. The author notes that, despite the modest volume of bilateral trade compared to Mongolia’s closest neighbors, Japan found its niche in the Mongolian market by exporting high-tech products to this country. The bilateral Agreement on Economic Partnership concluded in 2015 and the steady interest of Japanese corporations in implementing projects on the Mongolian soil also guarantee further expansion of Japanese-Mongolian ties in trade and investment. Such issues as the cooperation between Japan and Mongolia in the spheres of education and health care, as well as the considerable interest of the Mongolian people to the Japanese language, culture, and sports, are not left unnoticed. In conclusion, the author emphasizes that, while, at first, the central element of bilateral Japanese-Mongolian relations was, in fact, the Japanese humanitarian assistance to the developing country going through a deep crisis, right now the cooperation between the two countries is mutually beneficial and is developing in multiple directions, with its significance for both sides rapidly increasing.

The program of reforming the Japanese economy known as “Abenomics” is one of the most interesting macroeconomic projects carried out in the 21st century. On the one hand, this is determined by the scale of the country, which occupies the third place in the world in terms of production volumes, and, accordingly, the impact on the processes of international development; on the other hand, by the unconditional conservatism of the institutional organization of the Japanese economic system, its weak reaction to previous reform attempts undertaken since the 1990s. The authors analyze the economic dynamics in Japan, the steady tendency of which has been the longest, although not the fastest, expansion in post-war history, which began at the end of 2012. The GDP growth rates increased from an annual 0.5 % for 1997-2012 up to 1.3 % since the launch of the “Abenomics” policy. The authors consider the reforms’ content and the focus of the main measures to change the socio-economic situation, assess the intermediate results and possible prospects for the implementation of “Abenomics”. The established procedure for soft implementation of the “Abenomics” policy has shown its success for the development of the Japanese economy. At the same time, the policy of past years proposed the right solutions to correct the problems that have accumulated in the country. First of all, it meant a radical turn in economic policy both in relation to business and to households. In our opinion, in the future, there is a high probability of implementing a new version of “Abenomics 2.0” - a continuation of the chosen path, the expansion and deepening of the ongoing reform programs. The challenge for “Abenomics” is to go beyond the classic versions of growth and redistribution of income. Further movement according to next versions of Abenomics is necessary, but it should be properly organized. The amount of time the S. Abe’s government has to respond to risks appearing along this path is extremely limited. To achieve new results, the Prime Minister has his term, lasting until 2021, when he must resign. Perhaps this time will be used by him to construct a yet new version of “Abenomics”, which allows overcoming negative trends. But the fact that its economic model has become a prime example of reforming one of the most powerful economies in the world is beyond doubt. Abenomics will be studied for a long time by experts and practitioners of economic policy in large economic systems of different countries.

Sport occupied an important place in the ideological speculations of Japan both in the pre-war and post-war periods. In the twentieth century, Tokyo twice successfully applied for the Summer Olympics. However, the Japanese government refused to support the 1940 Olympics and it did not take place. The Tokyo Olympics of 1964 won full support of the government and became the first Olympics to be held outside of Europe and America. The process of Tokyo nomination and the preparation for the Olympics sheds additional light on the political and cultural situation in pre-war and post-war Japan. A comparative analysis of the two Olympics allows us to evaluate the way that Japan had walked during the quarter of a century. During this time, Japan managed to abandon its pre-war totalitarian past and come to a radically different understanding of its place in the world. The Olympics is inherently an instrument of “soft power”, which has come into dramatic conflict with the prevailing sentiments in the pre-war political elite, who relied on “brute force”, and this led to the refusal to hold the 1940 Olympics. In present-day Japan, these failed games are commonly referred to as the “Ghost Olympics” ( maboroshi no orinpikku ). Instead of the “true” Olympics, the Far Eastern Games (which were informally called the “Asian Olympics”) were held in 1940. In the post-war period, Japan became a peaceful country, and all her hopes were associated with “soft power”. This policy allowed Japan to host the 1964 Olympics successfully and it increased country's self-esteem and international prestige. After the 1964 Olympics, the government’s attention to the sport of higher achievements has been weakened and the country's prestige has been enhanced primarily through the development of the economy and science, the improvement of living standards, and the promotion of cultural achievements. The bet on soft power proved to be much more effective in ensuring Japan's rightful place in the world.

In medieval Japan, poetry was composed strictly according to certain rules and conventions, which were recorded mostly in the rulebooks ( shikimoku 式目) and poetic treatises ( rengaron 連歌論). In both of these kinds of works, the most important rules and norms were articulated. After several writings on the poetry of renga (“linked verses” 連歌) were created by prominent poets Fujuwara no Teika, Ichijyō Kanera etc (XIII c.), who considered renga to be just a literary play, a Buddist monk Shōhaku composed the most important and serious compendium of the rules of renga , “The New Rules of Renga” (連歌新式 Renga shinshiki , 1501), based on the works of several generations of poets, for the most popular poetic form hakuin renga (100 stanzas renga 百印連歌). The work by Shōhaku, designed for the poets and judges at poetic tournaments, deals mostly with the vocabulary of renga, usage, poetic technique, double meanings of words, traditional allusions. It is a practical guide to the composition of renga . One more profound work on poetics written in medieval Japan is a treatise by another Buddist monk and poet Shinkei, titled “Whisper” (ささめごと Sasamegoto, 1463-1464). Shinkei, on the contrary, is far from explaining rules, considering renga to be a part of the whole medieval poetic tradition. The treatise is written in the form of a vague dialogue between a sage, who comprehends all the secrets of poetry, and a provincial amateur of renga , who expresses the popular view on renga as a play and reduces this genre to the earthly level. The statements of Shinkei are made in metaphorical mode, with renga in his works becoming a serious art of the Muromachi era (1392-1568) and a significant part of Japanese poetry in general.

A brief report on the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Japanese language and methods of teaching Japanese language”, which was held on 25 October 2019 at the Institute for Asian and African Studies of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov (ISAA). Since 1994, ISAA hosts annual Japanese language teaching conferences. At the conferences, teachers discuss the problems of teaching Japanese in a particular country, city, university, as well as various methodological, linguistic, and linguocultural issues. The organizers of this conference are the Association of teachers of the Japanese language of the Russian Federation and the CIS countries, ISAA, and the Japan Foundation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. These conferences are of great importance for the enhancing of methodological and professional level of Japanese language teachers. They are especially important for young teachers, as they get the opportunity to hear the presentations on various issues of methods of teaching the Japanese language and presentations on linguistics and linguoculturology. In addition, some presentations are made in Japanese, which increases the level of language proficiency of teachers. After the conference, the proceedings are published as a collection of papers.