Annual Newsletter of the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center, Hokkaido University

S LAVIC-EURASIANR ESEARCHC ENTER NEWSNo. 25
March 20182017 Summer International Symposium“Northeast Asia’s Faultline: One Hundred Yearsof Sino/Russian/Soviet Competitive Cooperation”
The SRC hosted the annual summer symposium in Sapporo on 13–14 July 2017 under the
Orgkomitet composed of David Wolff, Iwashita Akihiro, Aburamoto Mari, Kato Mihoko
and Jonathan Bull. Fifteen exciting, scientifically-detailed papers were presented in fivesessions, delivered by citizens of nine countries. The conference was co-sponsored by several
National Science Grants administered by center members, including: Kaken A: “Comparison of Development Models
for Major Regional Powers inEurasia: Russia, China and India”(Tabata Shinichiro); “National
Institutes for the Humanities(NIHU) Areas Studies Project for
Northeast Asia” (Iwashita); Kaken B: “Russo-Chinese Relations:
Researching Rapprochement”(Wolff). Additional contributions
came from the Unit for Border
Research Japan (UBRJ) andthe Schlaikjer-McIntyre Fund
administered by the National
A scene from the last session (discussion)
Philanthropic Trust (London).
Deliberations were overshadowed by the first successful North Korean test launch of
an intercontinental missile on July 4. It gave a special urgency to our discussion about why
Northeast Asia has failed to find successful regional identity or effective security mechanisms.
One knowledgeable Chinese insider fully expressed the desperate situation by saying that
we must all get used to having a nuclear North Korea, for China already has resigned itself
to this reality. At 810 kilometers from Pyongyang, Beijing is fully in range of Korea’s very
accurate short-range missiles, should Beijing ever do anything to threaten Kim Jong-un’sregime, so it will not. Soon Tokyo (and Washington) may feel the same way, just as Seoul
has lived with this Sword of Damocles for a long time already.

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This is regional knowledge and regional learning from a Chinese perspective and ourconference was filled with many such multi-directional learning moments of collegial communication. In order to analyze Northeast Asia better, we used interdisciplinary approaches
to the Russo-Chinese relationship from local, central, regional and outsider perspectives.
Studies of Russian military and political moves in the region showed how China’s rise as an
economic, political and military power has driven some Russian decisions, while preventing
others from being considered. Russia’s pivot to the east after the 2014 annexation of Crimea
was judged decisive in increasing Russian dependence in several areas: oil and gas markets,
investment credits and tacit support in international fora. In return, Putin has had the placeof honor in Beijing, standing in the front row at Chairman Xi Jinping’s right-hand in all
photographs of the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) Conference in May 2017.
Notably, both Russia and China have shown strategic long-term vision in preventing
tensions along their long border, the unhappy scene of bloody past conflicts. Forbearance hasreached the point of greatly limiting interaction across that border. Several papers provided
insights from economic and population data, while Russian participants voiced the Russian
Far East’s perennial complaint of Moscow’s neglect, attendant depopulation and brain drain.
Although Vladivostok or Khabarovsk might welcome a little more Chinese investment in
the Far East, from a strategic point of view, Moscow can only be content to see the rising
giant move south and east to challenge the US, Japan and even India. There are still no signs
that Russia considers Chinese inroads in Europe a threat to Russia’s priorities in the West.
Although the Russian Far East might have wished for additional massive Chinese investment
to supplement Moscow’s meager budget, it has not materialized. Neither Beijing, nor Shanghai
has found attractive opportunities on either side of the Russo-Chinese border. Beijing’s disinterest
in investing in the Chinese Northeast has driven Heilongjiang’s provincial rank by GDP fromsixth in 1985 to twenty-second in 2016. Although China is building bridges, roads and railroads
all over Asia on an unprecedented scale, the international bridge across the Amur has remainedin the planning stage for over thirty years. Nonetheless, whatever cross-border trade and traffictakes place is often of decisive economic significance for the bordering areas themselves.
On other issues, historical analysis helped factor in India’s importance for Northeast
Asia both in the past and present, Russia’s historic role as political model for China’s revival,
and Northeast Asia’s regional alliance systems. Historical perspective also aided us to focus
looking forward on the shape of things to come. One wise observer suggested that Northeast
Asia needed a common song.

David Wolff
Speakers at the Symposium (July 13–14, 2017)

Yamazoe Hiroshi (National Institute for Defense Studies, Japan): “Russia’s Military Policy and the China
Factor.”
Kato Mihoko (SRC): “Sinocentrism in Russia’s Reorientation to the East: Constraint or Stabilizer?”
Masuo Chisako (Kyushu University, Japan): “Russia’s Weight for China in the Global Context: Is the
China-Russia Partnership Long-lasting?”
Andreas Hilger (German Historical Institute Moscow, Russia): “Regional Configurations and Global Problems:
India, Northeast Asia, and the Cold War.”
Izumikawa Yasuhiro (Chuo University, Japan): “Alliance Politics in East Asia during the 1950s: A Perspectivefrom Dynamic Theory of Alliances.”David Wolff (SRC): “Great Octobers: Russia’s Revolutions, the Russo-Chinese Borderlands and the Rise of China.”
Bhavna Dave (University of London, UK): “Priority Development of the Russian Far East: Prospects and Pitfalls.”
Soeren Urbansky (University of Cambridge, UK): “From Friend to Foe. The Sino-Soviet Border during the
1960s and 1970s.”
Horie Norio (University of Toyama, Japan): “Soybeans and Chinese Farmers in the Borderlands of the Russian
Far East.”2

No.25 March 2018

Motomura Masumi (Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation): “Russo-Chinese Economic Cooperationin Oil and Gas Development.”
Viktor Larin (Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the Peoples of the Far East, Russian Academy of Sciences): “Russia-China Economic Relations in the 21st Century: Unrealized Potential or Predetermined Outcome?”
Lu Nanquan (Institute of Russian, Eastern European & Central Asian Studies, Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences): “Sino-Russian Economic-Trade Cooperation in New Era.”
Nyamdoljin Adiya (Institute of International Affairs, Mongolian Academy of Sciences): “Mongolia’s View
on Sino-Russian Relations.”
Ajay Patnaik (Jawaharlal Nehru University): “Russia-China Relations: An Indian Perspective.”
Ulises Granados (Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico): “Sino-Russian Competition/Cooperation in
Latin America.”2017 Winter International Symposium “The Russian Revolution in the Long Twentieth Century”
East Asia still seems to be living in the long shadow of the “short twentieth century.” Or,indeed, the “short twentieth century” does not even seem to have passed here. In his book The
Age of Extremes, Eric Hobsbawm
defines his “short twentieth century” as the years from the outbreakof the First World War to thecollapse of the Soviet Union. He
recognizes the lasting impacts of
the October Revolution on thiswhole era. In contrast, we framed
our annual winter symposium by“the long twentieth century” so as
to elaborate and expand historical
A scene from one of the sessions
inquiries beyond the Cold War
thinking (or obsession that continues to shape our twenty-first century.
Beginning the twentieth century with the 1870s has become common practice in history
writing, particularly about imperialism and violence. Yet we should not forget that it wasin the same period that democratic ideals resisting imperial dominance, such as socialism,
constitutionalism, nationalism, and Islamic reformism, thrived. While the First World War
witnessed colonial violence flow back to European metropoles, the expectation of decolonization, or dreams of emancipation, emerged from the ruins of the Romanov, Habsburg,and Ottoman Empires and spread reversely to colonized and dependent countries, as Soviet
Russia attempted to ride on the tide of anti-imperialism. Our two-day symposium tried tocapture this dimension, exploring the enduring impacts of revolutionary Russia not only on
the territory of the former Soviet Union, but also on the world beyond borders. The first day
was dedicated to placing Russia in the waves of constitutional revolutions of Eurasia and thendetecting the role of Soviet Russia in the interwar and Cold War world order, particularly interms of economy and culture. The second day addressed more directly the Revolution and
Civil War as well as their consequences that shaped Soviet society after the Second World
War and continue to affect the peoples of the former Soviet Union. The participation of
specialists of the Ottoman Empire, Iran, South Asia, China, and the British Empire enabled
us to discern the depth and limits of Russia’s revolutionary reach, which Russian historians
still have difficulty in fully gauging. In short, we had a very good exercise of a transnational
history of revolutionary Russia.
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Our meeting was supported by JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research: “Comparative
Colonial History: Colonial Administration and Center-Periphery Interactions in Modern
Empires” headed by Uyama Tomohiko. We had a hundred and thirty participants including
forty-three overseas guests. Our symposium was preceded and supplemented by a juniorscholars’ session “Wars and Transformation of Social Order: Russia’s Conquest of Central
Asia and the Caucasus.” Although our symposium’s timeframe ended with the 1980s, “thelong twentieth century” is likely to be ending now, given a recent second boom of literatureon the twentieth century triggered by the crisis in the EU and US (the first boom came, ofcourse, at the end of the Soviet Union). We do hope to continue in the future the explorationof the place of Slavic Eurasia on the globe in this long twentieth century.

Naganawa Norihiro
Speakers at the Pre-symposium Workshop “Wars and Transformation ofSocial Order: Russia’s Conquest of Central Asia and the Caucasus”

Naganuma Hideyuki (JSPS/Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan): “Kenesary Revolt and Its Consequences,
1837–1868: Reconfiguration of Kazakh Society and Russian Rule.”
Nosaka Sahara Junko (Bilkent University, Turkey): “‘Divide and Conquer’ in the North Caucasus underthe Imperial Russian Rule, 1850s–1860s.”
Azim Malikov (SRC): “‘Holy Groups’ in Samarkand Province: Social and Cultural Transformations, 1868–1917.”

Speakers at the Symposium (December 7–8, 2017)

Houri Berberian (University of California, Irvine, USA): “Bound by Revolution: The Caucasus, Iran, Ottoman
Anatolia, and Armenians.”
Fujinami Nobuyoshi (Tsuda University, Japan): “Constitutions In-Between: Crete, from the Ottoman Privileges
to a Greek State.”
David Brophy (University of Sydney, Australia): “Containing the Crisis: Xinhai, the World War, and theWestern Response to ‘Pan-Islamism’ among the Muslims of China.”
Samuel Hirst (Bilkent University, Turkey): “Soviet Oil for Turkish Oranges: Anti-Imperialism, Bilateral Trade,and National Development.”
Naganawa Norihiro (SRC): “Making an Anti-Imperialist Empire: Soviets’ Entanglements with Central Asia,
Iran, and the Red Sea in the 1920s.”
William Chase (University of Pittsburgh, USA): “Restoring Democratic Centralism to Communist Parties:
USSR, Spain and Mexico, 1935–1940.”
Maekawa Ichiro (Soka University, Japan): “Cold War and Decolonization: British Response to Extension of
the East in Africa in the 1960s.”
Kamran Asdar Ali (University of Texas, Austin, USA/Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan):“Towards a People’s Literature: Soviet Cultural Politics and the Progressive Writers Movement in South Asia.”
Zbigniew Wojnowski (Nazarbaev University, Kazakhstan): “Pop Music from Stagnation to Perestroika: How
Economic Reform Broke East European Cultural Networks and Why That’s a Good Thing.”
Uyama Tomohiko (SRC): “Research Trends in Japan on the Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union fromthe Perspective of Imperial History.”
Ikeda Yoshiro (University of Tokyo, Japan): “The Crisis of Representation of the Sovereign in the Russian Revolution.”
Peter Holquist (University of Pennsylvania, USA): “Occupation as Revolution: 1917 in Territories Occupiedby the Russian Army (Eastern Anatolia and Austrian Galicia).”
Sean McMeekin (Bard College, USA): “The Russian Revolution and the War, 1917–1918.”
Aminat Chokobaeva (Australian National University, Australia): “A Broken Trough: Civil War in Semirechye,
1916–1921.”
Oliver Bast (Université Paris III - Sorbonne Nouvelle, France): “Grand Designs and Unintended Consequences:
An Attempt at Gauging the Impact of the October Revolution on Iran.”
Yaroslav Shulatov (Kobe University, Japan): “Transition from Imperial to Soviet: Russia’s Policy Towards
Japan after the Revolution.”
Nikolay Mitrokhin (Bremen University, Germany): “Another Restart of the Unfinished Civil War: IdeologicalGroupings among the Soviet Elite and Their Family Connections, 1960s to 1970s.”
Anna Sokolova (Institute for Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia): “FromSocialist Equality to Class Differentiation: Funeral Management in the Early Soviet Union.”4

No.25 March 2018

International Symposium on Environment, Development and International Relations in the Arctic
The International Symposium on Environment,
Development and International Relations in the
Arctic was held on December 11–12, 2017 at
the Centennial Hall of Hokkaido University.
The Symposium was organized through Theme
7 of the ArCS Project, “People and Community
in the Arctic: Possibility of Sustainable Development,” for the purpose of promoting thethree pillars of its research agenda. The program
consisted of three sessions, each of which wasapplied to the research agenda.
At the beginning, Ambassador in Charge Keynote speech of Ambassador Ide inof Arctic Affairs in Japan, Ide Keiji, made a Charge of Arctic Affairs, Japan
keynote speech. He showed what role is expected of Japan in international governance over
the Arctic, and what orientation Japan should take in its Arctic policy.
In the first session, the presenters made an analysis of the recent trend of international
relations around the Arctic from the viewpoint of international cooperation and military
deployment in the region. The second session was composed of presenters with different
specialties, who discussed the present situations of resource development, as well as issuesof environmental conservation for the livelihoods of the indigenous people in the Yamal
Peninsula. In the third session, three anthropologists exchanged views on multispecies in
the Age of Anthropocene, and on reciprocal co-habitation of humans and animals, as well ason the possibility of collaboration between indigenous knowledge and scientific knowledge.
The participants of this Symposium were in total more than sixty people, including not
only scientific researchers but also industrialists and decision makers. These people fromdifferent fields exchanged views on common issues concerning the Arctic. As a result, theSymposium proved to be not only a common ground for interdisciplinary academic discussion,
but also a place for debate in order to step further into a more practical dimension. Looking
back from that point, the researchers in the humanities and social sciences could obtain aclearer vision of their role in this research project, that is, to connect different spheres ofGoto Masanori
lives to develop the possibility of mutual understanding.

Speakers at the Symposium (December 11–12, 2017)

Sebastian Knecht (Berlin Graduate School for Transnational Studies): “Making the Game or Changing theRules? Networks of Power and the Power of Networks in Arctic Governance.”
Yamazoe Hiroshi (National Institute for Defense Studies): “Russian Military in the Arctic and the Far East.”
Ohnishi Fujio (Hokkaido University): “Arctic Concert System and Its Challenges in the Age of Climate Change.”
Motomura Masumi (JOGMEC): “Perspectives of Oil and Gas Development in the Yamal Peninsula, Russian Arctic.”
Andrei Golovnev (Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography [Kunstkamera], Russia): “Yamal
Nenets: Nomadism vs. Industrialism.”Arbakhan Magomedov (Ulyanovsk State University, Russia): “Arctic Resources, Aborigine Land and Political
Economy of Current Russian Political Regime: National and Local Dimensions.”
Kondo Shiaki (Hokkaido University): “Multi-Keystone-Species Ethnography Anthropocene and Salmon-Human Entanglements in Alaska”
Omura Keiichi (Osaka University, Japan), “The Earth Multiple: Toward Sympoietic Development of Multiple
Worlds in Post-Anthropocene”
Florian Stammler (University of Lapland, Finland) and Aytalina Ivanova (North-Eastern Federal University,
Russia): “Diversity for Sustainability: Human-Animal Partnerships as Base for Resilient Arctic Societies.”5

No.25 March 2018

Report on CAFS/NIHU Symposium“Crisis in Northeast Asia”
On January 27, 2018 (Sun.) Kyushu University hosted the final symposium for its Center for Asia-Pacific Future Studies (CAFS). The English title—Crisis
in Northeast Asia—indicated the dominant themeof the day which was assessing the challenge tothe region posed by North Korean missile testing.
The Japanese title, however, offered an alternative
nuance by including the word kiro—suggesting a
critical turning point. The difference between the
two titles reflected the variety of arguments put
forward: some speakers emphasized the high levelof danger in Northeast Asia while others were moresanguine about the future.
In their opening remarks, Watanabe Koichiro(Vice-President, Kyushu University) and Chang
Jekuk (President, Dongseo University) praised theOpening remarks by Chang Jekuk work done by CAFS during the previous three years.
(President, Dongseo University)
Following his remarks, Professor Chang took hisplace on the Special Symposium panel to discuss the “North Korean problem.” Skillfully
chaired by Izumi Kaoru (Faculty of Law, Kyushu University), the other participants included
Mimura Mitsuhiro (Economic Research Institute for Northeast Asia), Park Jong Seok
(CAFS) and Ko Il (Shimane University). The four panelists outlined to what extent they
thought that a “threat” existed. Views diverged over merits of American foreign policy inthe region and the long-term causes of North Korean actions. Drawing the panel’s attention
to factors other than diplomacy, Professor Izumi encouraged lateral thinking. He warnedof the risks of strident Japanese media coverage and asked about how civil society might
respond to current events. Encouraged by the Chairman’s opening up of the discussion, thepanel received many questions from the audience. Some of the most interesting focused onwhat role China and Russia might play in influencing North Korean policy.
After the Special Symposium, the first panel tackled the question “The US-Japan-China-Russia Security Nexus?” David Wolff (SRC, Hokkaido University) began with a critique ofthe state of foreign policy making under President Trump. Noting that special counsel Robert
Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference had already made considerable progressuncovering evidence of wrongdoing, Professor Wolff warned that Trump might be tempted
to instigate a conflict over North Korea to distract from events at home. The second speaker,
Serghei Golunov (CAFS), analyzed Russia’s “eastern pivot” to China, Japan, South Korea andTurkey. He argued that this move had partly rebalanced the respective economic importanceof the EU and China. Nevertheless, it had failed to lead to an economic breakthrough withseveral important Asian partners. Masuo Chisako (Graduate School of Social and Cultural
Studies, Kyushu University) then discussed the role of North Korea in Sino-Japanese relations.
In her opinion, over the last five years Sino-Japanese relations had improved because of theneed to engage over the North Korean issue. When North Korea is a global level issue suchcooperation becomes increasingly necessary. As a result, Professor Masuo explained, there
was now a chance for Japan to improve its bilateral relations with China but this opportunity
would not last for long. Iwashita Akihiro’s (CAFS/SRC) paper concluded the session. His
6

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point was that Russia was able to takea relatively flexible role in Northeast
Asia in a way that was not possible
in Europe. Consequently, although
Russia is often missing from analysisof the region, the country frequently
has an important role to play ininternational issues.
CAFS final contribution toacademic debate was the panel“Future-proofing Northeast Asian
Security.” Chairman Yabuno Yuzo
(Kyushu University) encouraged
a disciplined approach to a topic
that proved tricky for the panelists Session 1 panelists: The US-Japan-China-Russia
to explain. Shin Beom-Shik (Seoul Security Nexus?
National University) spoke of the need to look for solutions to the Northeast Asian security
problems by using academic theory that takes the region on its own terms. Too often, hesuggested, academics use theory based on European experience to analyze Northeast Asia.
Paul Richardson (Birmingham University) outlined how he saw the main players in Northeast
Asia dealing with future security threats. Sato Takeshi (Shimane University) invited theaudience to consider the role civil society might play in improving the security situationand Miyawaki Noboru (Ritsumeikan University) linked the discussion to current debates in
Mongolia. Several incisive interventions from the audience improved the panel’s coherence.
Professor Iwashita delivered the closing remarks by thanking the CAFS staff and thetranslators for their hard work. He reflected on the achievements of CAFS and explainedthat he was going to carry the Center’s main achievements with him in his future research.

Jonathan Bull

Our Staff (FY2017)
Iwashita Akihiro: Professor, Eurasia Border Studies; Russian Foreign Policy and Sino-Russian Relations
Koshino Go: Associate Professor, Russian and Belarusian Literature
Naganawa Norihiro: Professor, Modern History of Central Eurasia; Islam in Russia
Nomachi Motoki: Professor, Slavic Linguistics; General Linguistics
Sengoku Manabu: Professor, Comparative Politics and Political Economy; Welfare Politics;
Director of the SRC
Tabata Shinichiro: Professor, Russian Economy and Comparative Economic Studies
Uyama Tomohiko: Professor, Modern History and Politics of Central Asia; Comparative
Imperial History; Modern History and Politics of Central Asia; Comparative Imperial
HistoryDavid Wolff: Professor, Russian, Soviet and Emigre; Siberia and the Far East; Cold War;Northeast Asian Region Construction
Yamamura Rihito: Professor, Comparative Economics; Russian Industry and Agriculture

Assistant Professors
Aburamoto Mari: Comparative Politics; Contemporary Russian Politics
Jonathan Bull: Decolonization and Migration History; Sakhalin/Karafuto History
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No.25 March 2018

Goto Masanori: Cultural Anthropology; Economic Activity in Russia
Kato Mihoko: International Relations; Russia’s Foreign Policy; Regionalism in East Asia
Kikuta Haruka: Contemporary Social Changes in Central Asia; Emigration and GenderTakahashi Minori: International Politics; Contemporary Greenlandic and Arctic Studies
Takahashi Sanami: Russian Orthodoxy in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russian Culture

Foreign Visiting Fellows 2017 (June) – 2018 (July)
Jarosław Jańczak: Construction and Deconstruction of Integration Projects’ Borders inEurasia: The Case of Western and Eastern “Edges” of Russia
Sergei Kuznetsov: Russian-Japanese Relations: Diplomacy and Diplomats of XIX–XX Centuries
Azim Malikov: “Holy Lineages” in the Turkestan General-governorate (1867–1917): Social
and Cultural Transformations
Danko Šipka: Lexical Layers of Slavic Cultural Identity
Mikhail Suslov: Cross and Cosmodrome: Religious Science Fiction in Contemporary Russian
Literature
Ilja Viktorov: Russia’s Monetary Power Autonomy and Its Limits

Research Fellows
Kamitake Kieko: Russian Music History from the End of the 19th Century to the Early
20th Century
Matsuzaki Hideya: Comparative Politics in Deeply Divided Societies; Contemporary
Moldovan and Ukrainian Politics
Edward Pulford: Chinese Consumers in Northeast Asia and their Geopolitical Entanglements
Saito Keiko: History of Japanese and Russian Ballet Exchange
Souno Fumoto: Cultural Anthropology; Bazaar Trade in Uzbekistan
Ueda Akira: Economic History in Central Asia; Historical GIS

Library and Information Service Staff
Osuga Mika: Research Associate, Publications
Tonai Yuzuru: Associate Professor, SRC Head Librarian

Ongoing Cooperative Research Projects
Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Excluding “Grants-inAid for JSPS Fellows” and “Grants-in-Aid for Publication of Scientific Research Results: Scientific Literature”

Scientific Research A
Headed by Uyama Tomohiko: “Comparative Colonial History: Colonial Administration
and Center-Periphery Interactions in Modern Empires” (2013–17).
Headed by Iwashita Akihiro: “Reconstruction of International Relations through BorderStudies” (2014–17).
Headed by Tabata Shinichiro: “Comparison of Development Models for Major Regional
Powers in Eurasia: Russia, China and India” (2015–18).
Headed by Nomachi Motoki: “Multi-hierarchical Approaches to Kashubian Grammar
on the Basis of a Newly Devised Corpus” (2017–21).
Scientific Research B
Headed by David Wolff: “Russo-Chinese Relations: Researching Rapprochement”(2015–18).
Headed by Sengoku Manabu: “Economic Policies of the Emerging Democracies in the
Post-neoliberal Period” (2016–19).
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Challenging Exploratory Research
Headed by Koshino Go: “Mixture of Russian and Chinese Cultures in North-East
Eurasia: Memory and Representation” (2016–18).
Headed by Nomachi Motoki: “Language Change in Banat Bulgarian in Serbia and Its
Current Situation” (2016–18).
Challenging Research
Headed by Komoto Yasuko: “Examination of Materials Left by Japanese Army Concerned Religions in China, Manchuria, Mongolia and Tibet” (2017–19).
Grants-in-Aid for Young Scientists A
Headed by Takahashi Minori: “Self-government and Climate Change: ‘Autonomy inExternal and Internal Relations’ in Greenland” (2014–17).
Grants-in-Aid for Young Scientists B
Headed by Takahashi Sanami: “Canonization and Veneration of Saints in the Russian
Church through International Relations” (2015–18).
Headed by Aburamoto Mari: “Political Regime and Elections in Contemporary Russia:
Politics of Electoral Integrity” (2016–18).
Headed by Kato Mihoko: “Russia’s Asia Policy after the Annexation of Crimea:
Sinocentrism and/or Diversification” (2017–20).
Research Activity Start-Up
Headed by Kamitake Kieko: “The Role of Media on Self-awareness of Russian Music”(2016–17).

Visitors from Abroad
Assel Bekebassova (Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan): “Comparative Research of the Relationship between Education and Modernization in Kazakhstan andJapan in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century” (June 2017 – February 2018).
Aisulu Khairuldayeva (Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan): “Kazakhstan’s Relations with the Central Asian States in the 18th and the First Half of the 19th
Century in Local Historiography” (September–November 2017).
Yaroslav Lopukhov (Far Eastern Federal University, Russia): “Transformation of
Values in the Modern Family in Russia and China: Cross Disciplinary Approach” (September
2017 – March 2018).
Simon Ammosov (North-Eastern Federal University, Russia): “Russian-Japanese
Economic Relations: Regional Aspects” (September 2017 – March 2018).
Shang Yue (China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations): “Russian
Diplomacy, the Development of Siberia and the Far East, Sino-Russia Relations and Energy
Diplomacy” (October 2017 – January 2018).
Kuanysh Murzakhojayev (Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan):“Cultural and Educational Activities of Jadids in Kazakhstan in the Late 19th – Early 20th
Century” (October–December 2017).
Aisen Larionov (North-Eastern Federal University, Russia): “Economic Development andForeign Economic Relations of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)” (November 2017 – January 2018).

Guest Lecturers from Abroad
SRC/IREEES Joint Symposium “Otherness in Russian and Eurasian Contexts” Kim
Yonni (Seoul National University, Korea): “A Study of Nabokov’s Triadic List”; Hwang Chul
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No.25 March 201810

Hyun (Seoul National University, Korea): “A Semantic Analysis of Loanword Adaptationin Russian: A Case of Russian Suffixes čik, ščik, nik, ik”; Jeong Tae Jong (Seoul National
University, Korea): “Natasha: Is She ‘the Other’ in the Chekhov’s Play The Three Sisters?”;
Lee Sun-Woo (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, Korea): “A Subtle
Difference between Russia and China’s Stances toward the Korean Peninsula and Its Strategic
Implications for South Korea”; Cho Kyoo Yun (Seoul National University, Korea): “Visualization of ‘Own’ and ‘Alien’: Book of V. Mayakovsky as Poetic Genre”; Byun Hyun-Tae(Seoul National University, Korea): “Toward Materialistic Esthetics: Evolution of Russian
Avant-garde”; Elmira Alexandrova (Institute of Russian Literature, Russia): “‘An Evening
with Claire’ by Gaito Gazdanov as a Novel-Reminiscence: From Commentaries on Certain
Images of Acoustic Memory” (January 30, 2017).
Evgeny Golovko (Institute for Linguistic Studies, RAS, Russia): “Русский язык иследы русского культурного влияния на Аляске сегодня” (February 17, 2017).
Felix Herrmann (Bremen University, Germany): “Centralization vs. Socialist Competition: Soviet Computer Experts and the Shaping of a New Industry in the 1960s and 1970s”;
Alexander Titov (Queen’s University Belfast, UK): “‘From Ethnos to Eurasia’: How Much
Academic Freedom Was Allowed in the USSR under Early Brezhnev” (February 27, 2017).
Felix Herrmann (Bremen University, Germany): “The Discuss Data Online Platform:
Sharing and Discussing Research Data on the Post-Soviet Region as a Collaborative Effort”(February 28, 2017).
Seminar “Natural Disasters and Resource Usage in Mongolia and in Japan” Lhagvadorj
Dorjburegedaa (Mongolian University of Life Sciences): “Herders’ Livelihood, Education
and Natural Resource Use at the Forest-Steppe Border of the Altay and Khangay Mountains
in Mongolia”; Battur Soyollham (Bagatumurch Co. Ltd., Mongolia): “The Effect of SteppeFires on Mongolian Herders and Ways to Reduce Losses” (March 9, 2017).
Timothy Colton (Harvard University, USA): “Is the Latest US-Russia Reset Dead on
Arrival?” (May 16, 2017).
Barbara Jańczak (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland): “German-Polish
Bilingualism: Bilingual Language Education and Language Policy: An Example of Słubice-Brankfurt (Oder) ‘Twin Town’” (July 20, 2017).
Natal’ia Klobukova (Moscow P. I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Russia): “Путешествиепо православной Японии” (August 2, 2017).
International Conference “Border History” Stefan Berger (Ruhr University, Germany): “Border Studies: Some Conceptual and Theoretical Clarifications”; Małgorzata
Głowacka-Grajper (Warsaw University, Poland): “Shifting Borders and Memory Practices
in the Borderlands of East-Central Europe: The Case of ‘Kresy’ (Former Polish Eastern
Borderlands)”; Kim Kwangmin (Colorado University, USA): “Central Asian Merchants andthe Border Experience in Xinjiang, 1860–1910”; Kim Seonmin (Korea University, Korea):“Environmental Relations in the Historical Space of the Qing-Choson Borderland”; Loretta
Kim (Hong Kong University, PRC): “The Way We Eat: Indigenous Identity, Foodways, andPeoples of the Eastern Sino-Russian Borderland” (August 3–4, 2017).
Natalia Ryzhova (Far Eastern Federal University, Russia): “Development Paradoxesof the Russian Far East: Illusions and Disillusionment” (August 30, 2017).
Paul Wexler (Tel Aviv University, Israel): “The New Field of Afro-Eurasian (Silk
Road) Linguistics and the Benefits for the Reconstruction of Eastern and Western Slavic
Languages” (October 12, 2017).
Aisulu Khairuldayeva (Kazakh National University): “Современная казахстанская
историография про взаимоотношения Казахстана с Кокандским ханством в XVIII– первой половине XIX вв.”; Kuanysh Murzakhojayev (Kazakh National University):“Образование джадидского движения в Казахстане” (November 17, 2017).

No.25 March 2018

Camillo Breiling (University of Vienna): “The Lipovans: Russian Old-Believers asa Religious, Cultural and Linguistic Minority in the Romanian and Ukrainian Part of the
Danube-Delta” (November 30, 2017).
Li Yonghui (Institute of East European, Russian and Central Asian Studies, Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences): “Cooperation under the One Belt One Road and the Eurasian
Economic Union” (December 1, 2017).

North Sea Road to the Human Heart
Danko Šipka (Arizona State University, USA/Foreign Fellow, 2017)
Humbled by the opportunity
to share my thoughts with theassociates, fellows, and friendsof the Slavic-Eurasian ResearchCenter, I would like to commencewith extending my profoundgratitude to Nomachi-sensei,
my host in Sapporo, for his mostgenerous professional and private
help throughout my stay. I am
furthermore indebted to the mostefficient and kind staff of theCenter for their support.
I was attracted to the Centerby its fine scholarly reputation.
Equally importantly, the cultural The author enjoying matcha in Hamarikyu Garden
pull of Japan was pivotal profes- with his wife and Prof. Nomachi
sionally and privately. I was lucky
enough that my modest application was selected—for that, I am grateful to those who madethat decision and to Hokkaido University for providing the necessary funds.
Having rather unusual and generally not so important interests in linguistics, I study not
the features that are shared by various languages and cultures, but rather what makes eachof them unique. My current research project, the one I was pursuing in Sapporo, was about
lexical layers of Slavic cultural identity, i.e., about the words that culturally define speakers
of Slavic languages. The center was a perfect research environment for my project becauseof its rich library collections and its most knowledgeable scholars. Getting some insight into
Japanese perspectives of studying Slavic languages was equally important broadening of myhorizons. Just like in many other matters, Nomachi-sensei was instrumental in connecting
me with numerous colleagues throughout Japan, for which I am most grateful to him and noless indebted to them. I had a chance to meet in person and have productive conversations
with professor Mitani in Tokyo and professor Hattori in Kyoto. I also received feedback to
my research in two lectures that were organized for me in Tokyo and Sapporo, which was amost rewarding experience. We are normally incarcerated in our own research tradition andbeing able to stand in another researcher’s shoes was most valuable for the project making it
less parochial. The stay gave a jolt to my project (which was on the back burner before that)and I was able to complete the first draft of the book three months upon my return home.
I believe that man’s professional and private life are always intertwined, even when
we are not aware of these connections. When reflecting about my time in Sapporo, I have a11

No.25 March 2018

holistic picture in my mind’s eye. Life in Sapporo was transformative not only professionally,
but also personally. At that personal level, my stay was even more enjoyable because I was
lucky enough to share it with my wife Lily, with whom I have been sharing everything since
we were high school sweethearts. She was initially somewhat apprehensive about living ina different culture, but very soon after her arrival she turned into an avid enthusiast of life inJapan, writing about it in her Facebook entries, to the pleasure of many of our friends at all
four corners of the Globe. I was no less enthused about Japan.
Those who haven’t lived in Japan yet and those who live there but take their environment
for granted may be puzzled by our excitement, so I will try to synthesize the background of
our infatuation with the country.
Let me start with the nature—from swimming in the Sea of Japan, to hiking Mt. Asahi-dake, the highest peak of the island. Our weekends were enriched by wonderful sights of
volcanos, hot springs, and lakes, one more impressive than the other. Not less impressive are
human interventions in the nature: Noguchi’s Moerenuma Park with its gigantic proportions,Tadao Ando’s Hill of Buddha with its divine lavenders, and many other parks throughout
the city and its surroundings. Even most prosaic constructions such as Okura-yama ski jumpstadium are so gracefully integrated into the nature as if they are sculptures.
To continue, rich cultural heritage is omnipresent—seeing temples, palaces, and castles in
Kyoto and Tokyo was most inspirational, but our visits to Ainu museum or Hokkaido shrine,
most notably during the colorful 7-5-3 ceremony, were no less fascinating. Not being elitists,
we were also fascinated by new cultural traditions, from bullet trains to vending machines foreverything to anime and manga. It was such a pleasure to see on several occasions young people
dressed up as manga characters gathering in Otaru and other places throughout the island.
This brings me to the society and its people. It was such a privilege to live in the society
where crime, violence, and poverty practically do not exist. It seemed to us that kindness tofellow man is the leading and overarching principle around which the society is organized. It
is demonstrated at every corner—from not using your cellphone on public transportation to
making sure not to burden your interlocutor with criticism and unpleasant choices. Kindness,courtesy, and humility seemed to be genuine, present in the spirit, not just in the letter.
Let me finish with the food. Had Japanese culture not been profoundly non-violent, I
would have said that it was so good to both die and kill for. Its freshness and deliciousness(thankfully, Japan has not succumbed to the practice of producing GMOs and I hope it willhold the fort for many years to come) was unparalleled by anything we have tasted anywherein the world (and we travel a lot). We have tried everything: from fugu to shabu-shabu, fromtakoyaki to sukiyaki, from yakisoba to yakitori. The elegant manner of food preparation,
the diversity and richness of various restaurants and joints was just overwhelming. Amongother things, we were most pleasantly surprised that at the airports (infamous for overpriced
hardly comestible food of limited choices everywhere else in the world) you could eat as
good and as inexpensive and have the same choice of various restaurants as anywhere else.
All in all, my stay in Japan meant more to me than a boost to my research project. It wasa life-altering experience for me and my wife. It has opened our eyes toward civilized waysof organizing societies and toward graceful co-existence of people with people, and people
with nature. Seeing that unique cultural practices are upheld against the formidable waveof globalization, threatening to put us into the straight jacket of just one way of thinking,was most inspiring. We hope to come back and to hike Fuji-san, among other things. In themeantime, we are enjoying to look at Hokusai’s 36 most elegant views of it.
I also have some regrets. Not of something that I did or did not do in Sapporo, but
because I had not studied Japanese much harder prior to my arrival to Sapporo (I only learned
the Kana, some basic Kanji and some basic words and phrases—in other words close to12

No.25 March 2018

nothing). I intend to rectify that by enrolling into a Japanese language class in the fall of thisyear. However, even with my most basic and inadequate knowledge of the language, I wasable to read the name of the magnificent island where my wife and I were privileged to live
(North Sea Road is quite a fitting name for it) and the island was our road to kindness as
human nature and spirit (or human heart, as the sign for one of many words for this central
Japanese concept literally says). Hence the title of this text.

Slavic-Eurasian Research Center as a Knowledge
Hub for Specialists on Post-Communist Countries
Ilja Viktorov (Stockholm University, Sweden/Foreign Fellow, 2017)
In July–September 2017, I spent three months at the
Slavic-Eurasian Research Center as a Foreign Fellow. It
was a wonderful time full of interesting meetings, newresearch contacts, and a great variety of professional
activities. I have always had a great interest in Japanand its traditional culture; this stay was my fifth visit toJapan. As a participant of the ICCEES World Congressin Makuhari in 2015, I witnessed the Japanese academic
community having a lot to offer in terms of research on
the post-Communist world, not least regarding Russianstudies. This was the main reason that I applied for theForeign Visitors Research Program at the SRC. Before
coming to Sapporo, I had great expectations regarding
the possibilities of my professional development as a
specialist on Russia’s political economy. All these hopes
were fully materialized during my stay at the SRC.
The working conditions provided for foreign fellows
by the SRC have been excellent in terms of working Dr. Ilja Viktorov at Sophia University
space, computers, and the entire research infrastructure. in Tokyo after his lecture on Russia’s
Any practical problems I met during my stay, not least re- economic development, July 2017
lated to my lack of knowledge of the Japanese language,
were addressed by the SRC administrative staff in a very effective way. In particular, I am
fully indebted in this respect to the Foreign Fellowship Program Manager Osuga Mika-san.
The university accommodation for families provided by Hokkaido University was also
excellent. I highly appreciated it.
More importantly, I witnessed that the SRC has been a real meeting point for researcherswith interest in Russian and other post-Communist countries. To begin with, I was happy toattend the annual summer symposium organized by the SRC. In 2017, this memorable event
was devoted to Sino-Russian cooperation and its uneasy historical background. Researchers
from Japan, Russia, China, India, and other countries met to discuss this issue, making it anunforgettable experience in terms of providing a fresh perspective compared to how we tend
to look at the matter in Western Europe. As a specialist of Russian political economy, I foundthe meetings and talks with researchers who represented regions in the Russian Far East to bevery helpful. It was a unique chance to be updated about what was happening in this part ofRussia, which remains almost unknown for researchers in Europe and Moscow-based research
centers in Russia itself. The SRC had an intensive schedule of activities in terms of seminars
13No.25 March 2018

and presentations in various areas; there was always something happening at the center. I myself
delivered two presentations on the political economy of Russia as a part of my stay at the SRC.
Each foreign fellow receives an academic advisor who is a member of the SRC staff
and introduces a fellow into the SRC’s academic life. I highly appreciated the hospitabilityof Professor Tabata Shinichiro-san as my advisor, and Dr. Tabata Tomoko-san, whose help
was indispensable during my stay at the SRC. Academic discussions with Dr. Aburamoto
Mari-san on Russian politics and Professor David Wolff on all thinkable aspects of modern
Russian and American history made my stay at the SRC an enjoyable experience.
My special thanks should go
to the excellent SRC library andits helpful staff headed by Tonai
Yuzuru-san. No doubt, this is one of
the best well-maintained specialized
libraries in the world with expertisein Eastern Europe and post-Soviet
space. I admire the efforts that Hokkaido University and the SRC devote
to preserving this store of knowledge
in our area, especially in comparison
with the current negative trend ofneglect of such specialized libraries
so common in both post-Socialist
and Western European universities.
Dr. Ilja Viktorov in Sapporo downtown, August 2017 I wish I could have spent at the SRC
library not only my working but also
my free time, enjoying reading all the excellent literature and journals collected there, if thelibrary had been open during holidays.
Another additional benefit I appreciated was communication with other foreign fellows
that were at the SRC during my stay. Hours of interesting talks, exchange of ideas, sharingof news, and simply coffee breaks were spent with Professor Sergey Kuznetsov from Irkutsk
State University, Dr. Mikhail Suslov from Uppsala University, Dr. Jaroslav Janczak from
Adam Mickiewicz University, and Professor Danko Šipka from Arizona State University.
I fully used opportunities to visit other Japanese universities to meet researchers who
study Russia’s political economy. I went to Sophia University in Tokyo to meet Professor
Adachi Yuko and gave a lecture on recent trends in Russia’s economy at her Departmentof Russian Studies. I was also able to become acquainted with the Institute of Economic
Research at Kyoto University where Professor Mizobata Satoshi was kind enough to hostmy research seminar. All these contacts will be of great importance for my future researchplans and will hopefully lead to joint research projects with my Japanese colleagues hosted by
Swedish universities. Japan possesses a fantastic academic culture where one can share one’s
research results and where one can be listened to and be heard with the greatest attention.
Sapporo and Hokkaido also has plenty of opportunities during holidays. Sapporo is a
vibrant metropolis with all thinkable modern amenities typical of any large Japanese city.
Compared to Kyoto and Tokyo, it is a very young city, but still it can suggest numerous alternatives for sightseeing such as landscape parks, Hokkaido Shrine, Hokkaido Historical Village,
and museums with excellent temporary exhibitions of world class. The Hokkaido University
campus is itself a great sight and a place to relax after long working hours. The seaside port
of Otaru, situated just a short train ride from Sapporo, has been my real favorite. Its historicalstreets and buildings, charming channels, excellent seafood, and unique culture of coffee
14No.25 March 2018

shops make it a very attractive
destination. I have been there fourtimes but still cannot claim I haveseen everything in Otaru I wished
to experience. In addition, all
tourist signs in Otaru are equippedwith information in Russian, avery welcoming service for any
Russian who would like to pay avisit to this pleasant town situatedat the Sea of Japan. Hokkaido isfamous for its beautiful naturalparks available to visit as a partof convenient bus excursions from
Sapporo. Neither is the legacyof traditional Ainu culture to be
Otaru Summer Festival, July 2017
missed, by paying visits to Ainu
villages and a number of interesting museums. One of such museums is actually locatedwithin the Hokkaido University Botanical Garden.
Would I recommend other specialists on Russia and Eurasian space to consider an
opportunity to visit the SRC and Hokkaido University? Definitely, yes. Japan should be proudof creating and maintaining such a fantastic interdisciplinary center in our professional area.
It serves well as a real meeting point for the international community who study the economy,
politics, culture, and history of our regions in the post-Communist realm.

Япония в моей жизни и моя жизнь в Японии
Sergei Kuznetsov (Irkutsk State University, Russia/Foreign Fellow, 2017–18)
Весной 2017 г. мне посчастливилось оказаться
среди тех, кто был избран Центром славяно-евразийских исследований университета Хоккайдодля долговременной научной командировки вЯпонию. Целых 10 месяцев спокойной кабинетно-библиотечной жизни, возможность завершить
множество когда-то начатых и по разным причинам заброшенных текстов, всерьез, а не на бегууглубиться в написание давно задуманного текстао судьбах японских дипломатах в России. Об этомможно было только мечтать! 1 июня я уже летел вСаппоро. Я люблю приезжать в Японию весной илив начале лета — кажется, что с ожившей природой иу тебя начинается новый период жизни и все самое
интересное и важное еще впереди.
Как любой историк, я привык фиксировать
события, как в окружающем мире, так и в своей The author at Maruyama Park,жизни. Подсчитал, и оказалось, что теперешний Sapporoмой приезд в Японию уже двадцать пятый. Своеобразный юбилей! Конечно, кто-томожет усмехнуться — эка невидаль. Для меня же каждый приезд сюда, даже краткий
— очень важен.
15

No.25 March 2018Когда я впервые узнал о Японии? Трудно сказать. Наверное, это было в 1964году — учительница в школе рассказала нам, что в далеком и неведомом нам Токио,состоятся Олимпийские игры. Заинтригованный я пришел домой и схватил Большую
Советскую Энциклопедию на букву «Т». Сухая, официальная статья о Токио мне непонравилась, да и что в ней могло быть кроме извечных классовых сражений между
«трудом и капиталом». Надо сказать, что информации об Японии тогда в Советском
Союзе было ничтожно мало. Интернета еще не было, а государственное телевидениеи государственные газеты выдавали только официальную пропагандистскую версию
событий. Продолжалась холодная война и на слуху кроме Токио были лишь двадругих японских города — Нагасаки и Хиросима. Лишь спустя много лет мы узнали,что к Олимпиаде 1964 г. в Токио была построена самая высокая в мире телебашня,впервые велась трансляция игр через спутник, впервые в мире была открыта ветка
скоростной железной дороги — синкансэн. Также спустя много времени мы осознали,что олимпиада 1964 г. стала рубежом, символом возрождения Японии и стремительного
движения стран вперед. Впрочем, те годы, полные драматических событий, давно
скрылись за поворотом, хотя какие-то аналогии с нашим временем все же напрашиваются. Например, тогда в Токио 1964 года Восточная и Западная Германия выступали
объединенной командой. Она и в Токио 2020 года будет выступать объединенной,только представлять уже будет одну страну.
Это удивительно, но и первая моя поездка в Японию была связана с Олимпиадой
— московской 1980 года. Как известно, Япония, как многие другие страны бойкотировала московскую Олимпиаду в связи с военным присутствием СССР в Афганистане.
Пропагандируя Олимпиаду, советские власти направили несколько молодежных круизовв Западную Европу и один, в составе которого я и оказался, — в Японию. В мае 1980 г.
мы вышли на теплоходе из Находки, за две недели побывали в Нагасаки, Токио, Осаке,Хиросиме, Симидзу, Отару. Тогда же я впервые побывал и в Саппоро. Впечатления оттой поездки до сих пор живы в моей памяти. Вернувшись домой, я продолжил учебу вуниверситете, затем поступил в аспирантуру в Ленинградском университете. И, наверное,неудивительно, что темой моего исследования стала Япония — диссертацию я написал обистории англо-японских отношений после Второй мировой войны. Так Япония вошла вмою жизнь, стала не только объектом научного интереса, но и увлечением, своеобразным
магнитом, который с невероятной силой притягивает к себе. Все же до середины 80-хгодов современной, актуальной информации о Японии было крайне мало, особенно вроссийской провинции. Из печатной продукции — только журнал на русском языке
«Фото Японии», да газета социалистов «Сякай симпо», которые можно было купить вгазетных киосках. Другую японскую прессу, не говоря уже о серьезных монографиях
можно было получить лишь в столичных — московских или ленинградских библиотеках.
Советская пресса изредка публиковала информацию преимущественно негативного илиспорного содержания. Исключение составляли, пожалуй два журналиста — В. Овчинников и В. Цветов, которые умудрялись в своих репортажах показать советским людям
совершенно иную, реальную Японию. Показать страну и людей в позитивном свете.
Известно, что до середины 80-х годов в Советском Союзе в области исследования
новейшей истории Японии и международных отношений гласно или негласно, былочерчен круг приоритетных для исследования проблем: ремилитаризация Японии,межимпериалистические противоречия Японии, США и стран Западной Европы,кризисные явления в японской экономике на фоне общего кризиса капитализма,борьба японских трудящихся за свои права («весенние» и «осенние» наступления) ит. д. Разумеется, этому курсу следовали и провинциальные историки. При этом перед
ними стояли определенные препятствия: трудности с публикацией результатов своиисследований и малодоступность источников. Возможность публикации в центральных
16

No.25 March 2018изданиях была ограничена в силужесткой конкуренции, особенно дляаспирантов. Любая попытка опубликовать в провинции какой-либоматериал, касающийся зарубежных
стран требовала обязательного согласования с соответствующим подразделением Министерства иностранных дел. Что касается источников,то, как выше уже было сказано, онибыли сосредоточены исключительнов столичных библиотеках. Все этосдерживало творческий рост провинциальных исследователей проблем
всеобщей истории, затягивало сроки The author and his family enjoying life in Sapporoподготовки ими диссертаций.
Вторая половина 80-х годов принесла невероятные изменения во внутренней жизни
Советского Союза, то, что вчера еще казалось фантастикой, стало реальностью. Стремительно расширялись наши контакты с японскими коллегами, открывались архивы ирождались новые исследовательские темы. В конце 80-х такой стала тема о японских
военнопленных, интернированных в СССР и Монголию в 1945 г. Так получилось, чтоя стал одним из первых российских историков, взявшихся за эту тему. Конечно, в этомбыл элемент случайности, но и исследовательское чутье тоже кое-что значит. Еще дотого, как М. Горбачев весной 1991 г. вручил Кайфу Тосики списки японцев, умершихв СССР, мы уже обладали информацией о почти всех местах захоронений бывших
военнопленных в СССР. Еще живы были многие очевидцы и десятки интервью с нимизначительно обогатили нас фактическим материалом. Мы проехали по тем местам вИркутской и Читинской областях, Бурятской Республике, где в 40-е годы были лагеря,а значит, — и их неизбежные спутники — кладбища интернированных. Многие из нихоказались в густой тайге, как например, в районе «ГУЛАГовской столицы» — Тайшета,другие и вовсе ушли под воду после строительства Иркутской и Братской гидроэлектростанций. Впервые я почувствовал, что мои исследования приносят ощутимую,реальную пользу, когда к нам в Сибирь поехали многочисленные японские делегациив едином стремлении — посетить кладбища их родных и близких, погибших здесь в
40-х годах. Приезжали они, часто не имея никакой информации о местах захоронения.
В 1992 г. я подготовил и выпустил на английском языке карту «Graveyards of Japanese
war prisoners in Irkutsk Region», годом позже опубликовал в Канадзаве книгу и список
японцев, похороненных в Иркутской области. Надеюсь, что эти публикации помогла
многим разыскать родные могилы. Так в результате соединения архивных поисковс поездками по всей Сибири, общении с многочисленными японскими делегациями
сложилось серьезное научное направление. В 1994 году я защитил докторскую диссертацию по теме японского интернирования в СССР в 1945–1956 г. и она оказалась первойв России диссертацией по этой проблеме. Как-то я попробовал подсчитать научную
продукцию российских исследователей, занимающихся темой плена. Оказалось, что кнастоящему времени в России выпущено 14 сборников документов и материалов и фотографий, 41 фундаментальная монография, защищено 29 кандидатских и докторских
диссертаций, опубликовано более 210 научных статей, сделано свыше 300 докладовна конференциях и симпозиумах, опубликовано более 400 публицистических и газетных материалов о японском интернировании. Разумеется, сейчас проблема бывших
17

No.25 March 2018военнопленных и интернированных в СССР в 1945–1956 гг.
японцев уже потеряла прежнюю
остроту. Осталось не так много
живых свидетелей тех событий,сменились поколения. Отчастиона была снята и после визита
первого Президента СССР М.
Горбачева в Токио, а несколькими годами позже — после
извинений Президента России
Б. Ельцина за несправедливостьв отношении японских интернированных. С другой стороны,In front of the building of an old police station inпамять о пропавших в Сибири
the Historical Village of Hokkaidoи на Дальнем Востоке тысячах
японцев сохраняется в истории как неосознанный феномен и продолжает беспокоить и современное поколение. Вероятно, эта трагическая часть истории двусторонних отношений
окончательно уйдет в прошлое только когда в ней не останется незаполненных страниц.

Незабываемая и удивительная Япония:заметки исследователя
Azim Malikov (Institute of History, Academy of Sciences of Republic of Uzbekistan/Foreign Fellow, 2017–18)
В далекие 1980-е годы мои представления обЯпонии складывались на основе кинофильмов,мультфильмов и телепередач. Япония казалась
страной-сказкой — далекой и недостижимой.
Эпохальным событием стало провозглашение независимости Узбекистана в
1991 году. Состоявшийся 26 января 1992года обмен письмами между министрами
иностранных дел Узбекистана и Японии положил начало сотрудничеству наших стран.
В настоящее время в Узбекистане открыты
представительства 12 японских компаний,успешно действуют десять совместных
предприятий. В частности, налажено сотрудничество между АК «Узавтосаноат» ияпонской компанией «Isuzu Motors Ltd.»,благодаря которому в Самарканде произвоThe authorдятся десятки тысяч автобусов и грузовиков.
Ярким проявлением взаимного уважения японского и узбекского народов явилось
установление в Токио памятника выдающемуся поэту Алишеру Навои и создание вТашкенте Японского сада. Огромный вклад в изучение древнего наследия узбекского
народа внес известный ученый-археолог Като Кюдзо.
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No.25 March 2018

В 1993–1995 годах я читал студентам исторического факультета Самаркандского
государственного университета имени А. Навои курс лекций по истории стран Азиив новое время и, в частности, несколько лекций были посвящены истории Японии. Япомню, как на семинарах мы дискутировали со студентами вопросы, касающиеся сёгуната
Токугава, революции Мэйдзи, японском обществе и удивительной японской культуре.
Я много лет изучаю историю моего родного Самарканда — бывшей столицы
древнего государства — Согд (Согдианы). Согдийцы, будучи очень предприимчивым
народом, вели торговлю на обширных трасах Великого Шелкового пути. В VIII векеодин из них даже добрался до Японии.
Будучи на научных стажировках в разных странах и работая в библиотеках Австрии,США, Франции и Германии я изучал публикации, посвященные истории и культуре
Средней Азии. Из японских ученых наибольший интерес у меня вызывали исследования
профессоров Комацу Хисао, Уяма Томохико, Моримото Казуо, Кавахара Яёи, Обия Чика.
Между Узбекистаном и Японией расширяются культурно-гуманитарные связи.
После независимости Узбекистана были созданы условия, чтобы наши студенты стали
учиться и работать в Японии, а японские студенты вести исследования в Узбекистане.
В 2017 году благодаря поддержке администрации Центра славянско-евразийских
исследований Университета Хоккайдо, мне представилась возможность приехать вЯпонию и обменяться опытом с коллегами.
В японских вузах обучаются десятки узбекистанских студентов. В настоящее
время в Университете Хоккайдо по специальности «экономика» обучаются два студента из Узбекистана. После приезда в Саппоро я встретился с ними, мы обсуждали
открывшиеся огромные возможности для профессионального роста и познания богатой
многовековой японской культуры. Собрав других коллег, мы кушали традиционное
узбекское блюдо — плов.
Я благодарен профессору Уяма Томохико за научную поддержку моего исследованияи научную организацию моих поездок в Университеты Токио, Цукуба и Киото, где явыступил с докладами по разным проблемам истории и современности мусульманских
«святых сословий» Центральной Азии. Особенно продолжительной и плодотворной былапрезентация по теме коллективной памяти «святых сословий» Бухарского оазиса в современный период и обсуждение, длившееся более часа в Университете Цукуба. Состоявшиеся
дискуссии обогатили мои исследования, как в методологическом плане, так и выявили
новые подходы, которые весьма помогают мне в написании будущей монографии по теме«Святые группы» Центральной Азии в прошлом и настоящем (под святыми группами
понимаются потомки пророка Мухаммада, первых халифов и суфийских лидеров).
После лекции в Университете Цукуба по дороге в гостиницу я зашел в небольшой
магазинчик купить продукты. Каково было мое удивление, когда я узнал, что продавцы
были родом из моего родного Самарканда. Я вспомнил древних согдийцев, их стремление познавать другие культуры, способность находить общий язык с самыми разными
народами. Высокая толерантность и предприимчивость согдийцев сохраняется в ихпотомках и в настоящее время.
Подводя итог 26-летним связям между Японией и Узбекистаном можно заметить
появление целого поколения японских источниковедов, историков, антропологов, которые
свободно владеют узбекским языком, прекрасно знают узбекскую историю и культуру.
Некоторые из них на протяжении многих лет вели полевые исследования в разных областях
Узбекистана или изучали архивные материалы, рукописи, хранящиеся в библиотеках иархивах. Я имел возможность общаться с такими талантливыми исследователями как УэдаАкира, Соно Фумото, Вазаки Сейка, Кикута Харука, Сайто Риота. Для моих исследований
были очень полезны ценные консультации профессора Наганава Норихиро.
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No.25 March 2018Центр славянско-евразийских исследований при Университете Хоккайдо является прекрасной площадкой для встреч иобсуждений различных проблем
истории и современности с коллегами из разных стран, включая
Китай, Россию, Казахстан, Кыргызскую Республику и т. д.
Меня сильно впечатлила
богатая библиотека SRC, вкоторой я нашел десятки книг,научных сборников, недоступных на моей родине. Доступ к
A medieval university—madrasa in Samarkandэлектронным изданиям, журналам также облегчил мои исследования. Я открыл для себя имена новых японских
исследователей, ознакомился с их публикациями. В библиотеке находится важнейшая
литература по национальной идентичности, нациеформированию, истории России иЦентральной Азии, а также современные и досоветские периодические издания.
В Японии существуют самые разнообразные музеи. В каком бы уголке странывы не находились, у вас есть возможность посетить художественные музеи и галереи,где экспонируются произведения искусства с местным колоритом и из других стран.
В одном из музеев хранятся согдийские изделия далекого VIII века. Одним из богатых
музеев считается музей Михо — любимое детище госпожи Кояма Михоко (1910–2003).
В музее хранятся сокровища, принадлежащие всему человечеству. Меня особенно
заинтересовали экспонаты, привезенные из Среднего Востока. Музей приобрел знаменитые золотые изделия древней Бактрии, найденные в Афганистане. К сожалению, яне успел побывать в этом знаменитом музее, но надеюсь, сделать это в следующий раз.
Пять месяцев пребывания в Японии были насыщены работой и интересными событиями. Меня поразили высокая культура поведения японцев, их взаимная учтивостьи любезность, доброжелательность и открытость. Я благодарен госпоже Осуга Микаи госпоже Накаджима Канако за помощь при решении административных вопросов.
В Киото на меня сильное впечатление произвел замок Нидзё, укреплённая резиденция сёгунов рода Токугава. Когда я ходил по залам замка, перед моими глазами
вставали картины средневековой Японии, дворцовые церемониалы. Когда-то я читал
лекции про сёгунов, и, наконец, я здесь, прикасаюсь к истории...
Я всегда любил блюда японской кухни и где бы я ни был: в Париже, Берлине,Нью-Йорке, Вене везде я искал японские рестораны. Японская кухня отличается
разнообразием оттенков вкуса, богатством выбора, и полезностью. Самое вкусное
суши, конечно, оказалось в Саппоро.
Особое впечатление у меня оставили экскурсии по достопримечательностям
Саппоро и окрестностей. Удалось побывать в городе Отару, увидеть его колоритные
улочки, старинные паровые часы. По всей Японии есть много популярных храмов,куда ежегодно приходит множество людей. В Саппоро находится самый большой наХоккайдо синтоистский храм Хоккайдо Дзингу, излучающий необычайную духовную,проникающую мистическую энергию.
Быстро пролетело время, и хотелось бы вновь вернуться в эту удивительную
страну, являющуюся прекрасным примером сочетания трудолюбия, высокой культуры,развитого чувства эстетики и технического прогресса.
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No.25 March 2018

Publications (2017)
Motoki Nomachi, ed., “SERBICA IAPONICA: Допринос
јапанских слависта српској филологији,” Slavic Eurasian Studies,no. 31 (Sapporo: SRC, 2016) (in Serbian).

David Wolff, ed., “SRC at 60: New Historical Materials and Perspectives,” Slavic Eurasian Studies, no. 32 (Sapporo: SRC, 2017) (in English).
In 2016, the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center celebrated its 60th anniversary
by hosting an international symposium on December 10–11, 2015 at which we
examined the history of our Center, with special emphasis on the period of its birth.
Now a volume has been published in English “SRC at 60: New Historical Materials
and Perspectives,” including some of the important presentations at that symposium.
A first section documents findings from the research carried out by David Wolff
and Chida Tetsuro on the Center’s origins. Many new and very interesting details
and perspectives have emerged, including the SRC’s transnational origins, visits byRockefeller Foundation representative C. B. Fahs and then John D. Rockefeller, III
to Sapporo, as well as visits of Hokkaido University professors to the United States.
These exchanges culminated in a September 22, 1951 application by Hokkaido University to the Rockefeller
Foundation asking for initial support for a “Slavic Institute.”
A second section includes essays by SRC emeriti Akizuki Takako, Hasegawa Tsuyoshi and Ito Takayuki.
Akizuki and Ito addressed the centrality of library resources for the SRC’s role as a national center of Slavic-Eurasianarea studies, as well as the path of “nationalization” by which the SRC acquired this role in 1990. Ito’s essay, as
well as Hasegawa Tsuyoshi’s, also covers the parallel, if somewhat paradoxical, process of internationalization,
both in the final phases of the Cold War and under Gorbachev’s perestroika. If section one focuses on research
about the 1940s and 1950s, section two provides personal recollections from the 1960s to 1980s. In the third
section, a roundtable of scholars, senior and junior, foreign and Japanese, evaluated the changes that have cometo the profession in recent years, especially after the hosting of the ICCEES conference at Makuhari Messe inAugust 2015. Here top collaborators from China, Korea and Russia spoke of the profession’s evolution in theirhome countries, as well as their personal and institutional intersections with Japanese area studies’ academia.
At the SRC itself, two of the major events in the 2000s included the start of the graduate school in 2000
and the renaming of our Center from Slavic Research Center to Slavic-Eurasian Research Center in 2014.
These two reforms have meant that in the last 17 years, we have approved 21 doctoral dissertations and 73
master’s theses. Now, students who graduated from our program are working at universities and other research
institutions, in media and private companies, in Japan and abroad. Given the realities of education in Japan today,
the SRC is no longer growing, but its influence continues to grow as its alumni move out and up in the world.

Tabata Shinichiro and David Wolff
Akihiro Iwashita and Jonathan Bull, eds., “Positioning Asia and Kyushu in Shifting
Global Politics,” Slavic Eurasia Papers, no. 9 (Sapporo: SRC, 2017) (in English).
Tomasz Kamusella, Motoki Nomachi, and Catherine Gibson, eds., “Central Europe Throughthe Lens of Language and Politics: On the Sample Maps from the Atlas of Language Politics
in Modern Central Europe,” Slavic Eurasia Papers, no. 10 (Sapporo: SRC, 2017) (in English).
Manabu Sengoku, ed., “The Great Dispersion: The Many Fates of Post-Communist
Society,” Slavic Eurasia Papers, no. 11 (Sapporo: SRC, 2018) (in English).
Slavic Studies, no. 64, 2017, refereed journal in Japanese with summaries in English or Russian.
Acta Slavica Iaponica vol. XXXVIII, 2017, refereed journal in English and Russian.
Eurasia Border Review vol. 7, no. 1, 2017, refereed journal in English.
Japan Border Review, no. 7, 2017, refereed journal in Japanese with summaries in English.
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Contents
2017 Summer International Symposium “Northeast Asia’s Faultline: One
Hundred Years of Sino/Russian/Soviet Competitive Cooperation”................. p. 1
2017 Winter International Symposium “The Russian Revolution in the Long
Twentieth Century”......................................................................................... p. 3
International Symposium on Environment, Development and International
Relations in the Arctic..................................................................................... p. 5
Report on CAFS/NIHU Symposium “Crisis in Northeast Asia”................................ p. 6
Our Staff (FY2017).................................................................................................. p. 7
Ongoing Cooperative Research Projects................................................................ p. 8
Visitors from Abroad.............................................................................................. p. 9
Guest Lecturers from Abroad................................................................................. p. 9
Essay: North Sea Road to the Human Heartby Danko Šipka.............................................................................................. p. 11
Essay: Slavic-Eurasian Research Center as a Knowledge Hub for Specialists on
Post-Communist Countries
by Ilja Viktorov............................................................................................... p. 13
Essay: Япония в моей жизни и моя жизнь в Японии
by Sergei Kuznetsov....................................................................................... p. 15
Essay: Незабываемая и удивительная Япония: заметки исследователя
by Azim Malikov............................................................................................ p. 18
Publications (2017)............................................................................................... p. 21

Slavic-Eurasian Research Center
Hokkaido University
Kita-9, Nishi-7, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0809 Japan
Telephone: (81) 11-706-2388
Facsimile:(81) 11-706-4952
E-mail: src@slav.hokudai.ac.jp
Internet home page:
http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/index-e.html

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