Russia pursues a foreign policy that focuses primarily on the West, and it has few researchers specializing in relations with Japan and other Asian countries. Japan, meanwhile, has a shortage of researchers specializing in Russian foreign policy. This project seeks to build cooperative ties among young specialists in Japan, other Asian countries, and Russia and in particular to foster young Japanese researchers with potential for pursuing research on the international stage. In the first year, with Professor Hiroshi Kimura of the Institute of World Studies, Takushoku University, acting as leader, a group of five established Japanese experts on Russian affairs and eight young Japanese researchers gathered in monthly workshops; using English as their working language, they focused especially on Russo-Chinese relations and their impact on Northeast Asia.
This year, the research team met in nine regular workshops. Inviting overseas experts to take part, the researchers explored such subjects as the Vladimir Putin administration and its Southeast Asian policy and Japan's ties with the economy of Sakhalin. They also published joint reports (in Japanese) on such subjects as Sino-Russian and Russo-Japanese ties and Russian central and local government relationships. To provide them with experience in presenting research results and engaging in discussion with overseas specialists, the young Japanese researchers participated in international conferences, including the seventh World Congress of the International Council for Central and East European Studies and a conference on energy security sponsored by Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs, United Kingdom).