Yuri Chekalin, Author at The CommentaTHOR

Yuri Chekalin27.09.2022

A rare state funeral for Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister who was assassinated in July, has split Japan. The hawkish Abe was one of the nation’s most divisive postwar leaders, but it is the ruling party’s cozy ties with the ultra-conservative Unification Church that has fired up much of the opposition to the funeral. […]

Yuri Chekalin26.08.2022

Chapter 1 “In the cold, in the cold From familiar places Others call us cities … “ V. Vysotsky In 1854 under the muzzles of the guns, the American Commodore Matthew Perry forced the Japanese to sign the Treaty of Peace and Friendship with the United States and “open” to the world. This event, like […]

Yuri Chekalin08.08.2022

For a long time I wanted to talk about little-studied events like conspiracies in the army, terrorism and the like, so I decided to publish several essays on the history of Japan in the 1920s and 30s. Of course, this will affect politics, economics, sociology, and even culture. I thought for a long time where […]

Yuri Chekalin23.06.2022

The romantic love story of a Russian prisoner of war and a Japanese nurse served as the plot for the musical Oath on a Coin (Chikai no Koin) by the Japanese Botchan Theater (坊っちゃん劇場, Botchan Theater) from Ehime Prefecture (愛媛県, Ehime-ken). For almost 30 years, every second Saturday of the month, about a hundred students […]

Yuri Chekalin31.05.2022

Justice Minister Yoshihisa Furukawa warned Ukrainian refugees against working in hostess clubs and the adult entertainment industry. He said on Friday that it is not uncommon for Ukrainian women who have come to Japan to work in hostess clubs and other adult entertainment venues. He warned that such work is not allowed under the visa […]

Yuri Chekalin19.05.2022

Ministry of Finance of Japan: exports to Russia in April fell by 69.3%, imports increased by 67.3%. Russian imports to Japan increased by 67.3 percent in April, the Japanese Ministry of Finance reported. In absolute terms, the figure was 187.1 billion yen (1.45 billion dollars). This was facilitated by rising energy prices. Meanwhile, exports fell […]

Yuri Chekalin12.04.2022

East Japan Railway Co on Thursday resumed services on the entire Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train line for the first time since a powerful earthquake hit the country’s northeastern region nearly a month ago. Services were disrupted when a Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train traveling between Tokyo and Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture, derailed following the […]

Yuri Chekalin11.04.2022

Police in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, have arrested a 57-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder after he dropped a bowling ball to the street below from the 4th-floor corridor of his apartment building. According to police, the incident occurred at around 10:40 p.m. on April 10, Kyodo News reported. Police said Michio Shimizu, a carpenter, […]

Yuri Chekalin08.04.2022

The Tokyo metropolitan government on Thursday reported 8,540 new coronavirus cases, up 287 from Wednesday and down 213 from last Thursday. By age group, 1,689 cases were in their 20s, 1,645 in their 30s and 1,321 in their 40s, while 1,107 were aged between 10 and 19, and 1,370 younger than 10. The number of […]

Yuri Chekalin04.04.2022

Asian shares were mostly higher Thursday after an advance on Wall Street that ended a three-day losing streak. Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai advanced while Seoul edged lower. Oil prices fell back and U.S. futures climbed. Investors appeared to brush aside fresh evidence that inflation remains widespread in the U.S. economy according to a U.S. […]

Yuri Chekalin

Abe’s Funeral and Japanese Society

Japanese in America: A Brief Overview

The First Wave of Russian Emigration to Japan

Love Oath on Gold Coin

Ukrainian-Japanese Commonwealth

Imports from Russia to Japan have risen sharply

Entire Tohoku bullet train line back in service a month after quake

Man arrested after dropping bowling ball from 4th floor of apartment building

Tokyo reports 8,540 new coronavirus cases; nationwide tally 55,294

Asian shares track Wall Street higher, oil prices retreat

Lubyanka — the KGB House in Moscow

Olga Chekhova — the “Queen of the Nazi Reich” and Russian Spy

Do Animals have Conscious Thought?

Gavriil Popov — the First Post-Communist Mayor of Moscow