Forming a positive image of Russia based on the experience of SPbGIK

The article is devoted to the problem of creating a positive image of Russia in Japan and a positive educational impact on students that is the result of their active participation in various activities aimed at achieving this goal. The conclusions of the article are underpinned by the results of three-week seminar «Russian language and Russian culture» that has been held at SPbGIK for Japanese students from Meiji Gakuin University and Jochi Daigaku (Sophia University) for 15 years already, as well as meetings of SPbGIK students with students at Nihon University, Japan. The program of the seminar in addition to the lessons of the Russian language and sightseeing tours around St. Petersburg and its suburban municipalities included lectures on Russian culture, history and music. The Japanese and Russian students visited the house of the station superintendent in the village of Vyra, Veliky Novgorod and the museum of ancient wooden architecture in the village of Vitoslavlitsy, participated together with folklore groups in old Russian folk games, round dances, etc. The value of this work is multifaceted. On  the one hand, because of the immersion in Russian culture, communication with students and teachers of SPbGIK the Japanese students acknowledged to have created an objective and a more complete positive image of Russia. On the other hand, the Russian young people involved in this work deepened their sense of responsibility for the image of Russia, growing aware of the need to make a personal contribution to its creation, understanding that those impressions about Russia that the Japanese take home depend on everyone. It is necessary to search for new forms of work in this direction, to attract the youth to it, to accumulate, to generalize and exchange experience.