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Abstract:

To date, Mayakovsky studies give no detailed and reasoned answer to the question why Mayakovsky wrote in the poem “A Conversation with a Financial Inspector about Poetry” that he considered himself indebted to the “cherries of Japan”, for what reason the poet perceived inability to travel to the Land of the Rising Sun as a failure to fulfill a creative, and maybe even a human duty, why he had spent so much effort on organizing a trip around the world. The answers contained in academic publications are usually too brief. They lack biographical and other context that would make Mayakovsky’s motives psychologically understandable and convincing.

This article is an attempt to put together the necessary “details”, to point out the political, military, social, cultural and life circumstances that influenced the poet’s idea of Japan, formed an interest in this country and a desire to visit it during his journey.