Japan's Historical Disputes with Neighboring States
Russian Perspectives
1st Edition
Published on 30. January 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
246 pages
978-1-032-86543-0 (ISBN)
Description
This book examines Japan's relationships with China, Russia, the states of the Korean Peninsula, and Taiwan. Analyzing key points of conflict, their roots, and current relations, it highlights their significance for each country. Avoiding a focus on sensitive issues of the historical past per se, it provides a Russian perspective on their impact in Japan and neighboring states, their place in the domestic political discourse, the image of modern Japan in the eyes of political elites and the public and assesses the prospects for improving unfavorable mutual perceptions.
Problems of the historical past remain a significant factor in the deterioration of Japan's relations with China, South Korea, and Russia. Notions of national prestige and historical disputes appear with increasing frequency on the international political agenda in East Asia, driven largely by the economic and military rise of China and the changing military-political balance of power in the region.
The book will be of interest to scholars and students of area studies and international relations, especially those specializing in East Asian Studies, Japanese studies, the politics of memory in IR, and problems of national identity.
Problems of the historical past remain a significant factor in the deterioration of Japan's relations with China, South Korea, and Russia. Notions of national prestige and historical disputes appear with increasing frequency on the international political agenda in East Asia, driven largely by the economic and military rise of China and the changing military-political balance of power in the region.
The book will be of interest to scholars and students of area studies and international relations, especially those specializing in East Asian Studies, Japanese studies, the politics of memory in IR, and problems of national identity.
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Person
Dmitri V. Streltsov is the head of the Department of Oriental Studies, MGIMO University, and the Leading research fellow, the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences. Since 2008, he heads the Russian Association of Japanologists and is Editor-in-Chief of the "Yearbook Japan", "Russian Japanology Review" and e-journal "Japanese Studies in Russia." His main research field is the domestic politics and diplomacy of contemporary Japan. The author of more than 300 academic works, including eight individual monographs published in Russian including "Japan as Green Superpower" (MGIMO-University Pb, 2012), "Foreign Policy Priorities of Japan in the Asia Pacific" (Vostochnaya literatura, 2015), "The System of 1955" (Vostochnaya literatura, 2019) etc. He contributed two chapters and was the coeditor of "A History of Russo-Japanese Relations. Over Two Centuries of Cooperation and Competition (Brill, 2019)". He also contributed one chapter and was the coeditor of "Handbook of Japan-Russia Relations" (Amsterdam University Press, 2023).
Content
Preface
Abbreviations
List of Contributors
Introduction
Chapter 1: Identity and Historical Memory
Chapter 2: Historical Memory in the Foreign Policy Discourse of Contemporary Japan
Chapter 3: Issues of the Historical Past on the Agenda of Modern Japan-China Relations
Chapter 4: The Japanese Colonial Heritage in Taiwan as a Problem of the Historical Past
Chapter 5: Issues of the Historical Past in Current Relations between Japan and the Countries of the Korean Peninsula
Chapter 6: "Apology Diplomacy" in Japan's Relations with East Asian Countries
Chapter 7: Mutual Images and Thorny Issues of Historical Past in the Socio-Political Discourse of Russia and Japan
Chapter 8: The Japanese Presence on Sakhalin (1905-1945) as an Issue of Historical Memory
Chapter 9: Japanese Prisoners of War in the USSR, the Legal, Social and Humanitarian Aspects of "Siberian Captivity"
Index
List of Contributors
Dmitri V. Streltsov is the head of the Department of Oriental Studies, MGIMO University, and the Leading research fellow, the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences. Since 2008, he heads the Russian Association of Japanologists and is Editor-in-Chief of the "Yearbook Japan", "Russian Japanology Review" and e-journal "Japanese Studies in Russia." His main research field is the domestic politics and diplomacy of contemporary Japan. The author of more than 300 academic works, including eight individual monographs published in Russian including "Japan as Green Superpower" (MGIMO-University Pb, 2012), "Foreign Policy Priorities of Japan in the Asia Pacific" (Vostochnaya literatura, 2015), "The System of 1955" (Vostochnaya literatura, 2019) etc. He contributed two chapters and was the coeditor of "A History of Russo-Japanese Relations. Over Two Centuries of Cooperation and Competition (Brill, 2019)". He also contributed one chapter and was the coeditor of "Handbook of Japan-Russia Relations" (Amsterdam University Press, 2023).
Sergey V. Grishachev is the Associate Professor of the School of Oriental Studies, School of World Economy and Internationals Affairs, HSE University. He graduated from The Institute of Oriental Studies of Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH), and received there the degree of Ph.D. in History (2005). In 2014-2018 he leaded the Department of Modern East in RSUH. He is the Executive secretary of Association of Japanologists (Russia), Deputy Editor in chief of "Russian Japanology Review", Member of Editorial board of e-journal "Japanese studies in Russia", Member of Editorial board of Yearbook "Japan". His main field of research is the history of Japan, history of Russo-Japanese relations, memory studies, history of international relations in Asia. Author of 30 academic works, author of three chapters of collective monograph "A History of Russo-Japanese Relations. Over Two Centuries of Cooperation and Competition" (Brill, 2019).
Vladimir V. Nelidov, Ph.D. History, is Associate Professor at the Department of Oriental Studies, MGIMO University, and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Japanese Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His research interests focus on the contemporary history of Japan, as well as Japan's domestic politics and foreign policy. He is the author of more than 30 academic works, including the individual monograph "Foreign Policy Process in Post-War Japan" (Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies of RAS, 2022), as well as chapters in collective works "Handbook of Japan Russia-Relations" (Amsterdam University Press, 2023) and "Security Policy of Countries of Contemporary East" (Moscow: Aspekt Press, 2021).
Polina V. Kulneva is the Research fellow, the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Center for Japanese Studies and a research fellow of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO-University). Her research interests lie in the field of Japan-China relations, including interaction between Japan and China in economic, political and sociocultural spheres, and the problem of historical memory in Japan-China relations. The author of more than 30 publications on Japan-China relations in Russian, English and Japanese languages, including "50th Anniversary of the Normalization of Sino-Japanese Relations: Outcomes and Problems" (Yearbook Japan, 2022, in Russian), "The Place of Historical Memory in Perception of China by Japanese Society"(Russian Japanology Review, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020, in English), "Postwar Japan-China Relations: Interconnectedness of Economics and Politics" (J. F. Oberlin University Institute for Northeast Asian Studies, 2014, in Japanese).
Vera A. Perminova is the Research Fellow, the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences. Her main research field is history of colonial Taiwan, cross-Strait relations, relations between Taipei and Tokyo, historical past in contemporary Sino-Japanese relations. The author more than 40 academic works, including "Historical Memory and Its Influence on Relations between Tokyo and Taipei under President Ma Ying-jeou" (2008-2016) (Russian Japanology Review, 2021, in English), "Problems of the Historical Past in Japanese-Taiwanese Relations during the Chen Shui-bian Administration (2000-2008)" (Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies, 2021, in Russian), "War Remembrance in China and Its Influence on Sino-Japanese Relations in the 1950s - Early 1980s" (Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology, 2021, in Russian), "When colonial period was finished in Taiwan?" (coauthor - Molodyakov Vasilii) (Shinnihongaku, 2014, in Japanese).
Ilya V. Dyachkov is as Associate Professor at the Department of Oriental Studies and Department of Japanese, Korean, Indonesian and Mongolian, MGIMO University. His research focuses on security on the Korean Peninsula and foreign policies of the DPRK and the Republic of Korea. He authored some 100 academic works, including books "North East Asia's "Non-Peaceful Atom" (MGIMO University Pb, 2016), "Contemporary Korea (with A. Torkunov and G. Toloraya; Prosveschenie, 2021) and Understanding Contemporary Korea" from a Russian Perspective (with A. Torkunov and G. Toloraya; Palgrave Macmillan, 2022). He coordinated the production and wrote a chapter for "Russo-Korean Relations in Parallel History Format" (Moscow, Aspekt-Press, 2022; Seoul, Korean Foundation, 2022).
Elena L. Katasonova is the Head of the Center for Japanese Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), PhD (Philological Sciences), Doctor of Historical Sciences. She is Member of the Editorial boards of the Journals "Proceedings of the RAS Institute of Oriental Studies", and the "Bulletin of the Institute of Oriental Studies". His research interests include the history of Soviet-Japanese and Russian-Japanese relations, military history, and modern Japanese popular culture. She is the author of more than 200 academic journal articles and 7 individual monographic books in the sphere of Japanese studies (in Russian), including the following titles: "Japanese prisoners of War in the USSR: a Great Game of the Great Powers" (Moscow, Kraft+, 2004); "The Last Prisoners of World War II: Little-known Pages of Soviet-Japanese relations" (Moscow, Institute of Oriental Studies, 2005), "Japanese Prisoners of War in the USSR: 1945-1956. Collection of documents" (co-authored by V.A.Gavrilov), the Democracy Foundation, 2013); "New Japanese Cinema: in Dispute with the Classics of the Screen" (Institute of Oriental Studies, AIRO- XXI.2020), etc.
Abbreviations
List of Contributors
Introduction
Chapter 1: Identity and Historical Memory
Chapter 2: Historical Memory in the Foreign Policy Discourse of Contemporary Japan
Chapter 3: Issues of the Historical Past on the Agenda of Modern Japan-China Relations
Chapter 4: The Japanese Colonial Heritage in Taiwan as a Problem of the Historical Past
Chapter 5: Issues of the Historical Past in Current Relations between Japan and the Countries of the Korean Peninsula
Chapter 6: "Apology Diplomacy" in Japan's Relations with East Asian Countries
Chapter 7: Mutual Images and Thorny Issues of Historical Past in the Socio-Political Discourse of Russia and Japan
Chapter 8: The Japanese Presence on Sakhalin (1905-1945) as an Issue of Historical Memory
Chapter 9: Japanese Prisoners of War in the USSR, the Legal, Social and Humanitarian Aspects of "Siberian Captivity"
Index
List of Contributors
Dmitri V. Streltsov is the head of the Department of Oriental Studies, MGIMO University, and the Leading research fellow, the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences. Since 2008, he heads the Russian Association of Japanologists and is Editor-in-Chief of the "Yearbook Japan", "Russian Japanology Review" and e-journal "Japanese Studies in Russia." His main research field is the domestic politics and diplomacy of contemporary Japan. The author of more than 300 academic works, including eight individual monographs published in Russian including "Japan as Green Superpower" (MGIMO-University Pb, 2012), "Foreign Policy Priorities of Japan in the Asia Pacific" (Vostochnaya literatura, 2015), "The System of 1955" (Vostochnaya literatura, 2019) etc. He contributed two chapters and was the coeditor of "A History of Russo-Japanese Relations. Over Two Centuries of Cooperation and Competition (Brill, 2019)". He also contributed one chapter and was the coeditor of "Handbook of Japan-Russia Relations" (Amsterdam University Press, 2023).
Sergey V. Grishachev is the Associate Professor of the School of Oriental Studies, School of World Economy and Internationals Affairs, HSE University. He graduated from The Institute of Oriental Studies of Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH), and received there the degree of Ph.D. in History (2005). In 2014-2018 he leaded the Department of Modern East in RSUH. He is the Executive secretary of Association of Japanologists (Russia), Deputy Editor in chief of "Russian Japanology Review", Member of Editorial board of e-journal "Japanese studies in Russia", Member of Editorial board of Yearbook "Japan". His main field of research is the history of Japan, history of Russo-Japanese relations, memory studies, history of international relations in Asia. Author of 30 academic works, author of three chapters of collective monograph "A History of Russo-Japanese Relations. Over Two Centuries of Cooperation and Competition" (Brill, 2019).
Vladimir V. Nelidov, Ph.D. History, is Associate Professor at the Department of Oriental Studies, MGIMO University, and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Japanese Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His research interests focus on the contemporary history of Japan, as well as Japan's domestic politics and foreign policy. He is the author of more than 30 academic works, including the individual monograph "Foreign Policy Process in Post-War Japan" (Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies of RAS, 2022), as well as chapters in collective works "Handbook of Japan Russia-Relations" (Amsterdam University Press, 2023) and "Security Policy of Countries of Contemporary East" (Moscow: Aspekt Press, 2021).
Polina V. Kulneva is the Research fellow, the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Center for Japanese Studies and a research fellow of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO-University). Her research interests lie in the field of Japan-China relations, including interaction between Japan and China in economic, political and sociocultural spheres, and the problem of historical memory in Japan-China relations. The author of more than 30 publications on Japan-China relations in Russian, English and Japanese languages, including "50th Anniversary of the Normalization of Sino-Japanese Relations: Outcomes and Problems" (Yearbook Japan, 2022, in Russian), "The Place of Historical Memory in Perception of China by Japanese Society"(Russian Japanology Review, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020, in English), "Postwar Japan-China Relations: Interconnectedness of Economics and Politics" (J. F. Oberlin University Institute for Northeast Asian Studies, 2014, in Japanese).
Vera A. Perminova is the Research Fellow, the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences. Her main research field is history of colonial Taiwan, cross-Strait relations, relations between Taipei and Tokyo, historical past in contemporary Sino-Japanese relations. The author more than 40 academic works, including "Historical Memory and Its Influence on Relations between Tokyo and Taipei under President Ma Ying-jeou" (2008-2016) (Russian Japanology Review, 2021, in English), "Problems of the Historical Past in Japanese-Taiwanese Relations during the Chen Shui-bian Administration (2000-2008)" (Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies, 2021, in Russian), "War Remembrance in China and Its Influence on Sino-Japanese Relations in the 1950s - Early 1980s" (Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology, 2021, in Russian), "When colonial period was finished in Taiwan?" (coauthor - Molodyakov Vasilii) (Shinnihongaku, 2014, in Japanese).
Ilya V. Dyachkov is as Associate Professor at the Department of Oriental Studies and Department of Japanese, Korean, Indonesian and Mongolian, MGIMO University. His research focuses on security on the Korean Peninsula and foreign policies of the DPRK and the Republic of Korea. He authored some 100 academic works, including books "North East Asia's "Non-Peaceful Atom" (MGIMO University Pb, 2016), "Contemporary Korea (with A. Torkunov and G. Toloraya; Prosveschenie, 2021) and Understanding Contemporary Korea" from a Russian Perspective (with A. Torkunov and G. Toloraya; Palgrave Macmillan, 2022). He coordinated the production and wrote a chapter for "Russo-Korean Relations in Parallel History Format" (Moscow, Aspekt-Press, 2022; Seoul, Korean Foundation, 2022).
Elena L. Katasonova is the Head of the Center for Japanese Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), PhD (Philological Sciences), Doctor of Historical Sciences. She is Member of the Editorial boards of the Journals "Proceedings of the RAS Institute of Oriental Studies", and the "Bulletin of the Institute of Oriental Studies". His research interests include the history of Soviet-Japanese and Russian-Japanese relations, military history, and modern Japanese popular culture. She is the author of more than 200 academic journal articles and 7 individual monographic books in the sphere of Japanese studies (in Russian), including the following titles: "Japanese prisoners of War in the USSR: a Great Game of the Great Powers" (Moscow, Kraft+, 2004); "The Last Prisoners of World War II: Little-known Pages of Soviet-Japanese relations" (Moscow, Institute of Oriental Studies, 2005), "Japanese Prisoners of War in the USSR: 1945-1956. Collection of documents" (co-authored by V.A.Gavrilov), the Democracy Foundation, 2013); "New Japanese Cinema: in Dispute with the Classics of the Screen" (Institute of Oriental Studies, AIRO- XXI.2020), etc.