This article presents a review of the major scientific researches on the topic of ideograms in the Chinese and the Japanese languages, classified by their main themes and approaches in order to isolate similarities and differences of the approaches. In the paper we describe various approaches of Russian-speaking researchers to the study of ideograms from the second half of the XX to the early XXI century. Works in Sinology and Japanology during this period cover topics including writing, lexicology, and grammar, demonstrating a synchronized approach to studying the languages and cultures in both countries. Different perceptions of the issues under investigation can be noted in Japanology and Sinology. There is a lack of comparative studies simultaneously addressing both languages and their writing systems, as these topics are mostly presented separately in the works of Sinologists and Japanologists, indicating that despite the synchronization of studying linguistic aspects of both languages, joint comparative research within a single work is almost non-existent.
