East Asia: Facts and Analytics, 2026/3
DOI: 10.24412/2686-7702-2026-3-74-93
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Author
| Belozerov Viktor V. |
| Independent researcher |
| ORCID: 0000-0003-0094-7678 |
| E-mail: gendaieye@gmail.com |
Abstract
The article examines the presence of Japanese design in the Soviet public and professional life between 1960 and 1990. Drawing on archival sources (GARF, RGALI) and publications in the Soviet professional press – most notably the journal “Tekhnicheskaya Estetika” [“Technical Aesthetics”] – the study analyzes the main channels through which Japanese design was introduced to the Soviet audience: industrial and trade exhibitions held between the 1960s and 1990s, the largest of which was “Japanese Design. Tradition and Modernity” (Moscow, 1984), the international “Interdesign” seminars with the participation of Japanese specialists, and the systematic coverage of the subject in Soviet periodicals. Particular attention is paid to key figures who facilitated Soviet–Japanese professional dialogue (Kenji Ekuan, Yuri Solovyov) and to how Japanese exchange participants perceived Soviet reality. The author concludes by analyzing the loss of institutional continuity in these contacts after the collapse of the USSR and the transformation of the very concept of “design” in the post-Soviet period.
Keywords
Japanese design, Soviet design, VNIITE, “Technical Aesthetics”, “Interdesign”, USSR–Japan cultural exchange, industrial design, Ekuan Kenji
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For citation
Belozerov V.V. (2026). Yaponskiy dizayn v SSSR (1960–1990). Obrechennyye idei i udivitel’nyy mir potrebleniya [Japanese design in the USSR (1960–1990): doomed ideas and the astonishing world of consumption]. Vostochnaya Aziya: fakty i analitika [East Asia: Facts and Analytics], 8 (3): 74–93. (In Russian). DOI 10.24412/2686-7702-2026-3-74-93
References
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Dates
| Received Date: | Jul 20, 2026 |
| Accepted Date: | Jul 29, 2026 |
| Publication Date: | Sep 30, 2026 |
International License: CC BY 4.0