Japan and Russia resume youth exchanges

A Japanese foreign ministry official confirmed last week that the resumption of the scheme would see some 15 Japanese university students travel to St. Petersburg to take part in Russian language lessons and meet local students in August 2026. 

While only impacting a small number of students, policymakers have emphasised the importance of maintaining people-to-people ties and fostering mutual understanding during times of high geopolitical tensions. But experts in Japan have highlighted considerable negative sentiment towards Russia and enduring government sanctions.

“Providing opportunities to understand Russia firsthand and learn its language is all the more important because Japan-Russia relations are strained today,” said the ministry of foreign affairs (MOFA) official.  

The program, which was initiated by both governments in 1999, stopped in 2019 due to the Covid pandemic and was not restarted following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  

“This program and others have been quite important in managing cultural and academic exchange between Japan and Russia, which has long been maintained by bilateral exchanges of individuals on the ground despite a tense and evolving relationship between the states,” said Kyoto University lecturer Thomas Brotherhood.

But Brotherhood said he was surprised by the timing, with Japanese state policy continuing to back Ukraine, and public sentiment towards Russia “extremely negative”.

Tatsuhiko Hoshino, international relations officer at Japan’s Association of Overseas Studies (JAOS), said he agreed with the government official “to a certain extent”. 

“Study abroad and educational exchange provide opportunities for ordinary citizens to better understand how people in other countries are living, how they view current international affairs, and what challenges they face in their daily lives,” Hoshino told The PIE News.  

He added it was equally valuable for people from other countries to gain a better understanding of Japan, and that connections at the grassroots “can help build trust over the long term even when governments face political disagreements”.  

Mutual understanding at the grassroots level can help build trust over the long term

Tatsuhiko Hoshino, JAOS

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Japanese citizens were warned against visiting the country, though the alert was eased following requests from Japanese companies last September, allowing travel to most of Russia.  

The reopening of the scheme comes as rising costs and a weakened Yen have slowed the recovery of outbound mobility levels since Covid which remain below pre-pandemic levels.

Recent data also revealed a rise in students opting for short-term opportunities in East Asia and Oceania, while the number of students heading to the US declined.

Brotherhood said interest of Japanese students to study in Russia was limited to the “extreme minority who have a specific interest in Russian language, art and literature”.

On top of the weak Yen, he said perceptions of increased security risks were dampening appetite for study abroad: “Thus far scuppering government plans to achieve levels comparable to France and Germany.”

“Coupled with images of civil unrest in the United States and military activities in Europe and the Middle East, the security issue is certainly on the minds of those considering study abroad,” he said, highlighting that these concerns were likely most intense in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Moreover, Hoshino said a development that “cannot be overlooked” is the expansion of “international education without leaving Japan”. 

“Overseas high-school qualifications, subject learning delivered in English, and pathways into overseas universities – all of which previously required travelling abroad – can now increasingly be obtained in stages within Japan,” he explained. 

“As a result, part of the demand for high-school and university study abroad is not simply shrinking; it is being redistributed into a domestic-substitute form.”