From Indiscernible Foreigners to Enemy Aliens: Japanese Migrants in the Social and Political Discourse of the Russian Empire in the End of the 19 - Beginning of the 20 Centuries

This article is devoted to the analysis of an image projected on the Russian society by the Japanese, who lived within the borders of the Russian Empire in the end of the 19 - beginning of the 20 centuries. Based on the archival sources and pre-revolutionary press, the work shows the transformation of Russian socio-political discourse about the Japanese migrants. The first Japanese migrants appeared in Russia in the end of the 17 century; however, a relatively mass migration began in the end of the 19 - beginning of the 20 centuries with the start of an active development and settlement of the Russian Far East. Proximity to Japan, cheapness of the fare and the tempting perspectives to set up in business favored Japanese migration to the Russian Far East. In this way, by the end of the 19 century Japanese community formed in Russia, concentrated on the Far East with the center in Vladivostok. In the outskirts of Russia, the Japanese very quickly became an important and integral part of everyday life. Unlike the unusual and fascinating characters from colorful labels as the Japanese were seen by the residents of the European part of Russia, they became a daily routine for the residents of the Russian Far East. In the diverse multicultural environment of the Far East, Japanese migrants went unnoticed. The ethnic markers introduced by the Japanese into the space of Russian cities went unnoticed in the same manner. Often viewed in a positive way, Japanese migrants were not attributed a significant role in the socio-political discourse of the Russian Empire. The situation changed radically in 1904-1905. The Russo-Japanese war stressed the importance of the ethnic factor. As a result, the Japanese ethnicity, which earlier did not play a serious role in the relationship between Russian residents and Japanese migrants, all of a sudden became a significant and even a key factor. With the war outbreak, not only did the Japanese themselves, but also their markers, became of much notice to the Russian population which had not paid any attention to these objects before. Total war led to the feeling of opposition towards each other between the Russians and the Japanese, painting the ethnic component into political colors. Ethnicity was the most significant feature of the Japanese in the symbolic field of Russian Empire in 19041905. As a result, the negative feelings towards the enemy were easily transferred towards the Japanese people living within the Russian Empire momentarily turning indiscernible Japanese migrants into enemy aliens.

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