IMAGE of life in language consciousness of Russians and the Japanese

Abstract
In this article attitudes of Russian and Japanese native speakers to the image of life is analysed on the basis of associative experiments. Russian culture is viewed across two time strata: the early 1990s and the early 21st century. It is argued that the Japanese tend to be pragmatic, while Russians tend to be idealistic. It is postulated that modern Japanese culture is collectivistic and modern Russian culture is individualistic. It is also noteworthy that the evident optimism specific for Russian respondents was ensured largely by women. This testifies to the ability of women to cope with stressful situations better than men do.

Keywords: life, Russians, Japanese, culture, reaction, stimulus