The exhibition «Russia and Japan: From the Past Into the Future»

Vitalii Ignatenko
Director general of ITAR-TASS

Exhibition Russia-Japan: From The Past Into The Future is destined to become a significant cultural event in Russia and Japan. It was made possible by joint efforts of Russia's Information Telegraph Agency ITAR-TASS, the Sankei Shimbun media corporation in Tokyo and the Russian Ministry of Culture. This is the first exhibition on Japanese soil to demonstrate Russian historic and cultural relics dating from the 15th century to the early 20th century. These works of art belong to the Russian Orthodox Church and the Imperial House of the Romanovs. I believe the Japanese people will find a section of particular interest at the display - recollections of visits to Japan by the Grand Prince Alexis Alexandorovich in 1872 and the Crown Prince Nicholas Alexandrovich in 1892. These are the samples of the Romanovs' epistolary genre that exist in singular copies only.

The Russia-Japan: From The Past Into The Future exhibition compound provides a retrospective of how the Russo-Japanese ties have been growing from a distant past and into our days. It serves a brilliant example of mutual understanding and cooperation between institutions of culture from both countries. The fact that the visitors will be able to see these rare exhibits crowns months of smoothly coordinated work by top experts of the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, the National History Museum of Russia, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the State Museum of Ceramics in Moscow, the State Museum Preserves at Tsarskoye Selo, Gatchina and Pavlovsk near St Petersburg, and the museum preserves of history and architecture in the cities of Yaroslavl and Kostroma.

ITAR-TASS News Agencies was among the initiators of the Tokyo exhibition. It is an open secret that the Russian government gives much attention to the development of political, economic, and cultural cooperation with the countries of Asia and the Pacific, a region that is bound to play a leading role in the global processes of the 21st century. The visioning of its significance predetermines our agency's policy in Asia and the Pacific. One of our priorities is to promote cooperation with the leading news media here. In 2000, ITAR-TASS took the rotating presidency of the Organization of Asian News Agencies (OANA), the members of which provide for two-thirds of news coverage on the globe.

I am confident that the exhibition Russia-Japan: From The Past Into The Future will contribute to the promotion of political, cultural and economic ties, the strengthening of good-neighborliness and mutual understanding between Russia and Japan.