Foreign Policy in Statu Nascendi

This chapter is a review of Russian opinions, views, and assessments of Tokyo’s diplomatic activities in the last decade. The author is far from having the slightest ambitions to reveal anything new to Japanese colleagues, though he has something to say on how Russian politicians, public opinion leaders, and Japanologists see the problem. It is also an attempt: (1) to assemble together an “opinion jig-saw puzzle” of numerous small, often oddly shaped, and messy pieces of information; (2) to find common denominators; and (3) to formulate some prognostic assessments. The Russian vision of Japanese foreign policy may appear somewhat distorted in a slightly curved mirror that reflects, at times, not so much real problems of the Japanese foreign policy as Russia’s own foreign policy anxieties and phobia.