Examination of Japan-Soviet Academic Exchange in the Science Council of Japan (1955–1964)

This paper aims to clarify the circumstances surrounding the resumption of scientific exchange between Japan and the Soviet Union in the 1950s. The first official academic exchanges between the two countries after the World War II began in May 1955, when 15 members of the Science Council of Japan (SCJ), a representative academic institution in
Japan, accepted an invitation from the USSR Academy of Sciences and visited Russia on a scientific inspection tour. Following this visit, interest in Russian studies grew in Japanese academia. In October 1956 the Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration was issued and diplomatic
relations were restored. Under these circumstances, the plan to invite Soviet scientists to Japan became a pressing issue. However, it was not until March 1964 that Soviet scientific
delegates, including M.V. Keldysh, finally visited Japan. During the moratorium period of about 10 years, the SCJ continued to discuss the invitation of scientists from the Soviet Union at every General Assembly, but the invitation plan progressed very slowly due to the rejection of the budget request required for the invitation and the lack of a cultural exchange
agreement between the two countries. This paper uses the stenographic records of the General Assembly of the SCJ (unpublished documents) to shed light on some of the background to the efforts to resume scientific exchange between the two countries.