Образи Японії на сторінках катеринославської преси у роки Першої світової війни

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyze the reasons for the transformation of perceptions of Japan and the Japanese in Russian society from the image of an «enemy» during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 to an “ally” during the First World War and to deter- mine the components of these images based on the materials of the Katerinoslav press of 1914-1915. Results. As a result of the research, a number of articles from regional publications of the Katerinoslav region, stored in the collection of Dmytro Yavornitskiy Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum, and related to Russian-Japanese interactions during the First World War, were introduced into scientifi c circulation. Th e regional press of the Russian Empire, on the one hand, refl ected the government’s position, on the other hand, it was aimed at a reader who was less socially active and less inclined to analyze the geopolitical situation. Th e one who is the most interesting from the point of view of studying with the help of imagological tools, whom in the language of the time it was customary to call the term «everyman».Th e scientifi c novelty of this article lies in the fact that the analysis was based on a unique source complex of the provin- cial press, well preserved in the collection of the Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum named aft er D. I. Yavornytskyi. Th e provincial press is an excellent base for imagological intel- ligence regarding the generalized ideas of the most “average” representative of Russian society. Conclusions. Th e starting point for the formation of the image of Japan and the Japanese in Russian society during the First World War was the defeat of the Russian Empire in the Russo- Japanese War of the beginning of the 20th century, which was perceived very painfully, including by the people of Katerinoslav. Accordingly, Japan’s entry into the First World War on the side of the Entente (together with Russia) forced the Russian press to make a “180 degree turn” in rep- resentations of the Land of the Rising Sun. Japan appears in the provincial press of Katerinoslav as a proud country, a powerful military machine capable of opposing Germany in Tsingtao, a profi table trading partner and a supplier of weapons, which the Russian Empire desperately needed. In general, we can characterize the image of Japan through the prism of the Russian regional press as a benefi cial situational ally.