During the Meiji period (1868—1912), Japan faced serious challenges. Amidst rapid Westernization and modernization, the country was forced to re-invent its national identity. At the same time, the government made Shintō the state religion, which contributed to the rise of anti-Buddhist sentiment and the development of the haibutsu kishaku 廃仏毀釈 (“eradicating Buddhism and abolishing Shakyamuni”) movement. This policy led to the destruction of temples, statues, and paintings, threatening centuries-old cultural heritage. Then, in response to the adoption of European-style painting yōga 洋画, the nihonga 日本画, or Japanese-style painting movement emerged. It sought to preserve and reinterpret traditional art in a contemporary context. One of the key figures of this school was Yokoyama Taikan, who studied under Okakura Kakuzō. Thanks to his teacher’s influence, the young artist perceived Buddhism as one of the foundations of Japanese culture. In his work, Taikan did not simply copy ancient works but instead sought to develop a new visual language to express traditions and philosophical concepts. A significant milestone was his trip to India in 1903, where the artist was inspired to create works with Indian motifs, which served as impetus for the further development of modern Japanese painting. In his works, Yokoyama Taikan placed great emphasis on a profound understanding of Buddhist philosophy, which is reflected in such outstanding works as Selflessness (Muga 無我) and Metempsychosis (Seisei ruten 生々流転). Furthermore, the artist made a significant contribution to the development of artistic expression in modern art as one of the founders of the “hazy style” (mōrōtai 朦朧体). This technique conveyed the atmosphere and spiritual depth without the use of clear contours. Thus, Yokoyama Taikan was one of the leading nihonga artists who actively engaged with traditions, particularly Buddhist themes. In his works, he strove to find a subtle balance between cultural heritage and innovation, which lay at the heart of the formation of Japan’s national identity at the time. 

This article provides an analysis of documents from the Northern Studies Collection of the Hokkaido University Library, which is dedicated to Karafuto Prefecture (the southern part of Sakhalin Island under Japanese rule). The development of this region between 1905 and 1945 led to the accumulation of a significant number of written sources in Japanese. Most of these materials are stored in Japanese archives, including the Hokkaido University Library collection, and remain largely unknown to Russian scholars. As part of this research, the library catalogue was analyzed and the search for documents covering various aspects of the history of Karafuto was conducted. The sources identified in the library catalog were systematized into several groups. The first part of the article is devoted to documents related to the study of natural resources and the industrial development of Karafuto. The second part focuses on sociological and historical research. The article examines the circumstances and reasons behind the creation of these sources and provides a summary of their contents. Particular attention is paid to the changing academic interest in Karafuto within Japanese scholarly circles during the first half of the 20th century. The author concludes that most sources related to the history of Karafuto Prefecture are research papers. It was found that, during the early period of Karafuto's development, Japanese scholars actively studied the region’s natural and geographical features, population, infrastructure, and economic conditions. The results of these scientific studies laid the foundation for subsequent socioeconomic reforms. Key research areas during this period included geology, geography, biology, and economics. Research in ethnography and history was also actively pursued. In addition to academic works, the Hokkaido University Library holds reports from departments of the Karafuto Administration Office, statistical materials, periodicals, internal documents of industrial enterprises, and other sources. All the discovered materials are of significant scientific and historical value and reflect the Japanese government's comprehensive approach to the study and governance of Karafuto. 

The Tokugawa shogunate gave rise to numerous moralistic works based on Confucian and Buddhist ideas. Most of these works and biographies describe virtuous individuals, inviting the Japanese to emulate them. The most widely circulated text was 24 Examples of Filial Piety, based on Chinese precedents. In Japan itself, a similar largescale government project was undertaken: in 1801, the seminal work Kogiroku (Records of Filial Piety and Virtue) (8,614 stories) was compiled. The stories included in this compendium were collected by local authorities by order of the shogunate. Katsu Kokichi's autobiography, Musui Dokugen (1843), can also be considered a moralistic text, but it is unique in another respect: the author urges his descendants not to imitate their ancestor, who led a dissolute life. Katsu Kokichi's narrative reveals the dark side of Tokugawa society. In our minds, it often appears as the embodiment of strict order, and the samurai themselves as the embodiment of not only courage but also integrity. However, the autobiography paints a far from idealistic picture. Both Kokichi himself and many of his immediate circle were far from as blameless as portrayed in the normative texts of the Tokugawa era. Katsu Kokichi's autobiography vividly demonstrates that the severity of Tokugawa laws and moral codes could be offset by their violation and non-compliance. Katsu Kokichi was certainly not a “typical” samurai. However, we believe it is always useful to remember: not all samurai were “typical.” 
This article provides a translation of several excerpts from the Musui Dokugen. At the beginning and end of the autobiography, Katsu Kokichi urges his descendants not to imitate him under any circumstances. Further, several episodes are cited in which Kokichi candidly recounts his own unworthy actions. 

The article examines the specifics of visualizing the cultural code in modern Japanese architecture. The cultural code is a set of meanings that are significant for a particular culture and are conveyed through a sign-symbolic system. Modern Japanese architecture is a unique example of the preservation and functioning of the cultural code in a technogenic civilization. 

The affiliation of Japanese culture to the spatial type of culture is based on a non-linear perception of the world and a spatial understanding of the world, which reflects the nondual model of the world presented in various religious and philosophical teachings of Japan in symbiosis. This feature of Japanese culture determines the specific methodology of its study, particularly the study of visual art, such as architecture. The study uses a combination of semiotic and cultural-topological approaches to identify the content and methods of visualizing the cultural code in contemporary Japanese architecture. The architectural objects of analysis were buildings designed by the metabolic architects Kisho Kurokawa, Kenzo Tange, and Kiyonori Kikutake. 

Based on the analysis, the following conclusions were reached:

– Modern Japanese architecture is characterized by a dual language that involves two levels of encoding in a single message: denotative and connotative. The former corresponds to a direct message, while the latter represents an implied message. To decode a direct message, it is sufficient to possess a verbal code defined by natural language. Conversely, an implied message is conveyed through connotation.

– The cultural code in the architectural message is subject to decoding at the connotative level, where spatial concepts (topologemes) are of key importance. The main topologemes visualized in modern Japanese architecture are emptiness (shunyata), depth (oku), gap (ma), and flow (kayoi). 

– The philosophical postulates reflecting the mental matrix of the Japanese people have been represented in the architecture of metabolism, which has combined traditional principles of life with the latest technological achievements through a new architectural poetics. The theory of metabolism is based on the principle of development and “growth” of an architectural composition, similar to a living organism. This principle reflects the idea of a twofold model of the world. Spatial topologemes are visualized using methods of shaping through hyperboloid smooth lines, asymmetry, intermediate space, and metaphor. The new architectural poetics, reflecting the doctrinal basis of the architectural styles of metabolism and post-metabolism, allowed their representatives to achieve the effect of embedding a set of archetypal Japanese symbols into the futuristic appearance of buildings. 

This article presents diplomatic documents from the reign of shogun Ashikaga Yoshinori, included in Zenrin Kokuhōki (An Account of Good Neighborly Relations as a Treasure of Our Country, 善隣国宝, 1470), the first Japanese collection entirely devoted to diplomatic correspondence between the shoguns and the rulers of China and the Korean states (Koryo and Choson). Yoshinori's reign marks important milestones in the history of Japan's foreign relations: the re-establishment of official relations with Ming China (after the break during the reign of the 4th shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimochi (in 1411—1419)), as well as a change in the structure of Japanese-Chinese relations — larger numbers of Japanese actors involved in Japanese-Chinese relations, which were no longer limited to the shogun. The article includes annotated translations of 11 documents. Nine of them are Japanese-Chinese correspondence, and two are Japanese-Korean correspondence. It was during the reign of Yoshinori that, in addition to official messages exchanged between the parties, accompanying documents (for Japanese-Chinese relations) were added. These documents contain information about mutual gifts from both sides, as well as about the peculiarities of the licensing practice applied within the framework of the Ming tributary system. As for Japanese-Korean correspondence, lists of gifts are rarely included and are not presented separately but appear immediately below the official messages; in other words, such lists are regarded as supplementary information and are not treated by the compiler as separate documents. The documents of Japanese-Korean correspondence do not reflect all official contacts between the sides at the highest level during this period. Information from Korean sources (primarily The Annals of the Choson Dynasty, Korean Choson Wangjo Sillok) is much more comprehensive and provides insight into issues that are not mentioned in Zenrin Kokuhōki, so that, without taking them into account, it is obviously impossible to interpret the documents. Therefore, data from Korean sources are briefly summarized in introduction to the document’s translation. This work is a continuation of the research and translation of diplomatic documents from the Muromachi period. Previously, documents from Zenrin Kokuhōki corresponding to the reigns of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and Ashikaga Yoshimochi were published. 

The paper is devoted to a Soviet diplomat Y.A. Malik (1906—1980), the USSR ambassador to Japan during World War II. Malik became the first ambassador to Tokyo whose professional career in the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs (NKID) began with the Japanese direction. The author examines Malik's activities from the beginning of his work in the NKID structures until his appointment as Ambassador in 1942, analyzing his reports on the Soviet-Japanese relations, Japan's domestic and foreign policy, as well as its international affairs, and its position toward the USSR. 
Based on numerous primary sources, the article traces the diplomat’s career path and his professional development, showing how he evolved from a junior official into one of the Soviet Union’s leading experts on Japan, whose views were taken seriously at the highest level. The paper shows that his analytical reports and political assessments were consistent with many of Moscow’s policy decisions regarding Japan, and in some cases served, if not as direct justification, then as important arguments in support of particular decisions made by the Soviet leadership. Therefore, Malik should be regarded as one of the actors who influenced Soviet policy toward Japan. 
Special attention is paid to the period from the beginning of Germany's invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941, to the summer of 1942, when Malik presented his credentials to Emperor Hirohito and officially became ambassador — the youngest one in Tokyo. The article provides a detailed analysis of the evolution of the Japanese authorities’ attitude toward Soviet representatives and of Japan’s political course toward the USSR, including their approach to the Soviet—Japanese Neutrality Pact. It also examines the views of Soviet diplomats concerning bilateral relations with Japan, etc. The author concludes that this period is the key to understanding why Malik's work was so highly evaluated. This, in turn, predetermined his tenure in one of the most important diplomatic posts for the USSR until the end of World War II, and then the subsequent career rise of the young diplomat, who later held leading positions in the Soviet Foreign Ministry. 
The main source base for the study was the archival documents, many of which are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. 

The article analyzes the early stage of the evolution of Japan's monetary system — from the first copper coins to the formation of the trimetallic model at the beginning of the Tokugawa era. The first copper coins in Japan began to be minted according to the Chinese model at the end of the 7th century. They were used for monetary transactions and ritual purposes, but eventually fell out of use due to a shortage of raw materials and physical wear of the coins (the 987 decree banning the use of Japanese coins cites their wear as the reason; moreover, it orders the continued use of Chinese coins despite the weakness of commodity-money relations). For the next 600 years, Japan used coins produced in China. 
The discovery of silver and gold mines in the 16th century allowed Japan to start producing its own coins and led to the transition to a complex trimetallic money system. At the beginning of the 17th century, with the coming to power of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the process of centralizing the monetary system began. The article describes little-known details of the manufacture and use of gold and silver coins of that time, as well as an analysis of the historical context of the appearance of the first paper money and its official recognition. The depletion of the treasury, linked to the increased spending of the fifth shogun, Tsunayoshi, and economic development forced the government to carry out a monetary reform, during which 80% of all gold and silver coins were re-minted with a reduction in their precious metal content and a decrease in their nominal value. The reform contributed to an increase in the money supply and economic revitalization, although it caused inflation, price increases, and public discontent. 
The conclusion is that the evolution of monetary circulation in Japan was closely linked to the processes of political centralization and socio-economic transformation. The trimetallic system and methods of its reform became not only instruments of commodity exchange, but also an important lever of state policy, demonstrating the potential of financial instruments to stabilize monetary circulation and stimulate the economy. The article adds to our knowledge of Japan's economic history and the development of monetary systems in the early modern period. 

 The article investigates the causes of the profound crisis that struck the Japanese detective genre (tantei shōsetsu 探偵小説) in the 1930s. Existing historiography predominantly views this crisis through the prism of external ideological factors, namely the intensification of militarism and censorship in pre-war Japan. This study focuses on the systemic internal contradictions within the literary field itself. The authors aim to show that the genre’s decline was also very seriously influenced by the coincidence and mutual reinforcement of two interconnected processes, which have not been previously analyzed within a unified framework. First, it was a protracted crisis of genre identity, rooted in the historical hybridity of the detective fiction, which led to a theoretical schism between proponents of “orthodox” (honkaku 本格) and “unorthodox” (henkaku 変格) schools. It is further emphasized that the strategy of genre hybridization, which initially allowed the detective story to establish itself in the literary market and ensured its commercial success in the 1920s, paradoxically turned into a cause of ideological disorientation and loss of internal unity within the writing community in the following decade. Second, it was a complete institutional collapse and the sequential failure of the entire ecosystem of specialized magazines (Shin Seinen 新青年, PROFILE ぷろふいる, Spy シュピオ). Based on a comparative-historical and institutional analysis of 1930s texts and periodicals, the authors demonstrate how the original syncretic nature of the genre, which had been the key to its success in the 1920s, became the direct cause of its ideological disorientation in the following decade. Concurrently, using the three key magazines as examples, various scenarios of institutional collapse are demonstrated: financial (for the small-scale PROFILE), adaptational-marginalizing (for the commercial Shin Seinen), and voluntary (for Spy, which implemented the practice of jishukisei 自主規制, “self-restraint”). The conclusion is drawn that it was precisely the mutual overlap and synergy of the identity crisis and the infrastructure crisis, and not just external political pressure, that predetermined the depth and systemic nature of the decline of the Japanese detective genre on the eve of World War II. 

This article reviews a book by M.B. Efimov, an international journalist, titled Russia’s Ambassadors to Japan (19th—20th Centuries), which is the first study providing information on all ambassadors who represented Russia in Japan since the establishment of official diplomatic relations in the mid-19th century until the end of the 20th century. The author uses a tremendous amount of factual material, accompanying the narration with depictions of eras and historical events against the background of which the ambassadors of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation acted. The last chapters are especially valuable, as they contain a substantial amount of personal recollections of the author, who was a direct witness to many of the events described in the book. 

The Middle East (ME) region is vitally important to Japan, as it accounts for 90% of Japan's oil imports. For many years, Japan has sought to build friendly relations with all countries in the region, often having to balance its own interests with its strategic alignment with the United States, its only military and political ally. The seminar examined various areas of Japan's interaction with ME countries. The participants discussed the economic aspects of Japan's strategy in the region, its energy policy, and trade and investment cooperation. Particular attention was paid to Japan-Iran relations and Japan's response to the current crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. Various aspects of the crisis's impact on the Japanese economy and politics were examined, including the issue of deploying the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) abroad, Tokyo's foreign policy maneuvering between Washington and Tehran, and the regional and global trajectories of Japan's foreign policy evolution in light of recent events. Japan-Israel relations and Japan's approach to the Palestinian issue, including the recent crisis in the Gaza Strip, were covered in detail. An important aspect of Japan's relations with Middle East countries is their perception through the prism of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) concept, emphasizing their strategic significance as a link between West Asia and East Africa. Despite Japan's lack of strong historical and cultural roots in the region, it is not perceived as a hostile country. On the contrary, countries in the region distinguish Japan from Western countries, allowing it to carry out sensitive diplomatic missions given its special status in the region. At the same time, Japan's military presence in the region is not welcomed by Middle East countries, which are far more interested in tapping into Japan's technological potential and preserving its humanitarian role.