Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO)

Center of Japanese Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences (IV RAN)

Japanese Civilization in the Globalizing World.

Conference Program.

December 15-16, 2003, IMEMO, Moscow

December 15

Session 1.

Welcoming Address: Academician Nodari Simonia, Director of IMEMO.

Introduction: Prof. V.G. Khoros, Dr. Sc. (Hist.), Head of the Center for Development and Modernization Studies, Project Coordinator.

Presentation: ”Japanese Civilization Model: Its Basic Features” — A.N. Meshcheryakov, Dr. Sc.(Hist.), Leading researcher, Institute of Oriental Culture, Russian State Humanitarian University (RGGU).

Round-table Discussion.
Major Subjects:

1. Development of Civilization, Its Material and Demographic Constants.
2. Basic Values and Institutions.
3. The secular and the sacral.
   • The centrality of Shintoism.
   • Synthesis of Shintoism, Confucianism and Buddhism.
   • Vague boundaries between the divine and the human.
   • The principle of optimism in human existence.
   • Local functions of religious organizations.
4. Man and Society.
   • Primacy of aristocracy.
   • Socio-centrism, the social and the individual.
   • Family, commune, corporation.
5. Man and power.
   • The dualism of power: the Emperor and executive bodies.
   • The principle of succession in power. Impossibility of revolutionary changes.
   • The State as subject of policy.
   • Relations between the Center and the periphery. Autonomy of the periphery.
6. Labor and property.
   • Hierarchy of the types of labor.
   • Private corporate property.

Session 2.

Presentation: “Historical Dynamics of Japanese Civilization”—Prof. E.V. Molodyakova, Dr. Sc.(Hist.), Head of the Center of Japanese Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Round-table Discussion.
Major Subjects:

1. Cycles of Openness and Autarchy.
2. Peculiarities of Japanese Feudalism.
3. Internal Prerequisites for Modernization.
4. Modernization in Japan: Synthesis of the Traditional and the Modern.
5. The Epoch of Meiji and Post-Meiji Period.
6. Factors of the “Economic Miracle”.

December 16

Session 3.

Presentation: “Japanese Civilization in the Globalizing World”—Prof. V.E. Molodyakov, Dr. Sc. (Hist.), Takushoku University.

Round-table Discussion.
Major Subjects:

1. Globalization and the Crisis in Japan at the Turn of the Centuries. Its Spiritual Components.
2. American Style Unification or Retention of Japanese Identity?
3. Japan within the System of Asian Values.
4. The Role of Japan in the Region.
5. Japanese Civilization and the World Civilization Space.

Concluding Remarks: Prof. V.G. Khoros, Dr. Sc. (Hist.)