The Stranger
Russia’s and Russia Policy in Japan, 1715-2015
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Since the Russian Empire’s advance to the Pacific, Japan has seen Russia as a threat. In the Meiji era, respect for Russia’s military strength gave way to mockery of its backwardness. Leading Japanese Russia experts contributed to this image. At the same time, there existed a Slavophile countercurrent. After 1917, Tokyo regarded Soviet nationalities policy in Northeast Asia with concern, while Marxism was popular among intellectuals. After its defeat in the Second World War, Japan experienced a short Sovietophile phase, which came to an end with the country’s integration into the Western alliance system and the revelation of Stalinist crimes. Since 1991, Russia’s image has been shaped by the territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands; since 2014, the rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing has created a great deal of concern in Tokyo.
(Osteuropa 5-6/2015, pp. 33–47)