TOKYO, December 15. /TASS/. The governments of Japan and Russia plan to make 2018 the Year of Culture of the two countries, the Asahi newspaper reported on Thursday.

According to the newspaper, this will be officially announced during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Japan that starts today. Developing cultural exchanges was also one of the eight points in the plan of economic cooperation between Russia and Japan put forward last May by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive to Japan on a two-day visit on Thursday. He will hold several rounds of talks in different formats with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. On the first day, the meeting at the highest level will take place at the residence of the Japanese prime minister in his hometown ― a city of Nagato in the Yamaguchi prefecture in the south-west of the Honshu Island. On Friday, December 16, Putin and Abe will take part in several events in Tokyo.