Nitobe Inzo has never been to Russia. However, there is no denying that he played a significant role in Japanese-Russian relations through his book Bushido. This book was written by Nitobe in English in California at the end of 1899 and published in Philadelphia the following year. Her translations into German, Czech, Polish, Norwegian, French, Hungarian, Russian, Italian, Spanish and other languages soon followed. It has become a favorite read for foreigners who want to get to know the real Japan. The word "bushido " means" code of the samurai " (busi), but in a book written for foreign readers, Nitobe interprets it somewhat more broadly. Working on it, he seemed to answer the questions that foreigners actually addressed to him. When he was studying in Germany, a Belgian asked him: "There is no religious education in Japan, but how did you manage to instill moral standards in the Japanese so successfully?" American Mary, who became Nitobe's wife, was constantly interested in: "Why do the Japanese think this way and not otherwise? Why do they behave like this?" Nitobe saw the answer to these questions in Bushido's ethical system. To Westerners who regarded all non-Christians as pagan savages, he made it clear that in Japan, as in the West, there is a developed culture of the individual with high views on ethics and morality. Explaining this, including through constant reference to the past of the Western world, is one of the main features of the book "Bushido". In February 1904, Japan entered the battle for its existence and declared war on Russia "for the sake of peace and order in the East and security in Korea." For Japan, this war was an act of resistance to the imperialist expansion of tsarist Russia to the south. Japan won, but at the cost of enormous effort. The casualties were great: out of more than a million mobilized, two hundred thousand died. The war cost the country 1.7 billion yen. As a result of the initiative of US President Theodore Roosevelt, Japa ... Read more