Japan's Russia is a valuable resource that reinterprets modern Japanese culture and society and introducing readers to the rich intellectual and cultural history between Japan and Russia.

Before Japan was 'opened up' in the 1850s, contact with Russia as well as other western maritime nations was extremely limited. Yet from the early eighteenth century onwards, as a result of their expanding commercial interests in East Asia and the North Pacific, Russians had begun to encounter Japanese and were increasingly eager to establish diplomatic and trading relations with Japan. This book presents rare narratives written by Russians, including official envoys, scholars and, later, tourists, who visited Japan between 1792 and 1913. The introduction and notes set these narratives in the context of the history of Russo-Japanese relations and the genre of European travel writing, showing how the Russian writers combined ethnographic interests with the assertion of Russian and European values, simultaneously inscribing power relations and negotiating cultural difference.

A History of Russo-Japanese Relations offers an in-depth analysis of the history of relations between Russia and Japan from the eighteenth century until the present day, with views and interpretations from Russian and Japanese perspectives that showcase the differences and the similarities in their joint history, including the territory problem as well as economic exchange.

Excerpt from The Russian Push Toward Japan: Russo-Japanese Relations, 1697-1875 World War. As late as June, - Only two months before Russia plunged into the Far Eastern holocaust - a former prime minister of Japan and one-time ambassador to Moscow told the Soviet ambassa dor that if the Soviet Army and the Japanese Navy were to join forces, Japan and the Soviet Union together would become the strongest powers in the world. The Japanese attitude toward Russia today cannot be understood solely in terms of political and economic ideology. It has been shaped by centuries of intercourse between Russians and Japanese, dating back to l 697, the year of the first recorded encounter of a Japanese cast away and a Russian explorer. What were some of the lasting first impressions made by the Japanese and the Russians on each other? What was the nature of Russian pressure on Japan? Did a flourishing trade with Russia materialize after the opening of Japan or were Russian pleas for trade merely a cloak for more sinister designs? By whom was Russian policy toward Japan determined and how con sistent was this policy over the years? Questions such as these sug gested the need for a detailed narrative of early russo-japanese relations prior to a survey of dealings in the modern period. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

There is growing awareness of the importance of images in international relations. Explore the phenomenon over three centuries relating to Russia and Japan. A general perception of one country by another – the ‘stereotypical collective mentality’ – is historic phenomenon that continues to be a fundamental to international relations at all levels.

Drawing on the most up-to-date sources, this book provides an in-depth examination of Russia’s relations with China and Japan, the two Asia-Pacific superpowers-in-waiting. For Russia there has always been more than one ‘Asia’: after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there were those in the Russian elite who saw Asia as implying the economic dynamism of the Asia-Pacific, with Japan as the main player. However there were others who saw the chance for Russia to reassert its claim to be a great power, based on Russia’s geopolitical and geoeconomic position as a Eurasian power. For these, China was the power to engage with: together China and Russia could control both Heartland and Rim, both Eurasia and Asia-Pacific, whereas accepting Japan’s conception of Asia implied regional fragmentation and shared sovereignty. This book argues that this strand of thinking, mainly confined to nationalists in the El’tsin years, has now, under Putin, become the dominant discourse among Russian policymakers. Despite opportunities for convergence presented by energy resources, even for trilateral cooperation, traditional anxiety regarding loss of control over key resource areas in the Russian Far East is now used to inform regional policy, leading to a new resource nationalism. In light of Russia’s new assertiveness in global affairs and its increasing use of the so-called ‘energy weapon’ in foreign policy, this book will appeal not only to specialists on Russian politics and foreign policy, but also to international relations scholars.