Japan's approaches to the problem of Eurasianism

Abstract

The relevance of the research is due to the need to study the specifics of the ideological and theoretical justification of the concept of Eurasianism in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. The concept of Eurasianism, which was recognized in the 20-s of the XX century, is now embodied in the works of domestic and foreign researchers. The purpose of this article is to study the Eurasian concepts in Japan in the political, cultural, and economic dimensions. This is due to the fact that the country claims regional leadership, and also has territorial claims to Russia. The authors of the article ask whether the idea of Eurasianism can help Russian-Japanese relations move to a new level of cooperation and overcome contradictions that go far back in history. For this purpose, the concept of Eurasianism is considered in two planes: as an ideological and theoretical component. The main research methods are historical-system, as well as historiographic methods. They allowed not only to evaluate the approaches of Russian, European and Japanese researchers to the ideas of Eurasianism, but also to identify the origins of their views. The results of the research provide answers to the questions raised at the beginning of the work, namely, the theoretical and practical implementation of Eurasianism in Japan's foreign policy, as well as the role of this idea in Russian-Japanese relations. In conclusion, the authors draw conclusions, why the ideas of Eurasianism are relevant for Japan and what modern researchers put into the theoretical and ideological understanding of the concept.