Riko SHIBA

Russian Impact on Images of the Balkans Reflected in Meiji- Japan’s Newspapers

The purpose of this paper is to discuss images of the Balkans and Russia in the Japanese public from newspaper reports in the Meiji era, from the late nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. Japan as well as Russia undertook building of a modern state in the 1860s and sought to solidify hegemony in the Asian continent. In Japanese eyes Russia remained the most powerful rival who threatened Japan’s place as an imperial power in Asia. This attracted Japanese strong interest in the Balkans which lied on the opposite side of Russia, even though they had hardly diplomatic relations with Japan.