Abstract: The paper proposes a brief analysis of aesthetical and philosophical views of an eminent Japanese enlightener of the Meiji period, Nishi Amane (1829-1897). The subject of the research is a theme of aesthetical views of this beurocrat-scientist, who made the first successful attempt to translate into Japanese the main philosophical concepts and their meanings. He managed to transfer the sense of Western philosophy and sociology to the Japanese. In fact, Nishi’s system of philosophy was aimed at the improvement of Neoconfucian metaphysics with the aid of Western knowledge: positive philosophy, and, partly, Utilitarianism. The author applied the methodology of correct describing and interpretation of concrete works by Nishi (empiric, hermeneutic methods), also dialectic method together with the principle of complementarity. Scientific novelty: for the first time in our country’s history of philosophy the original works on aesthetics by Nishi Amane had been translated and analyzed. The author concludes, that the Japanese enlightener strove for the adjustment of Western science to the traditional values of his native land. Combining ideas of Confucian moral thought with Western philosophical modernity, Nishi together with his colleagues created the basement of contemporary Japanese aesthetical and philosophical thought.