VOICES OF JAPANESE CHILDREN IN SOVIET CHILDREN’S PERIODICALS

Abstract

The article reviews the history of publications in the Soviet children’s periodicals (Pionerskaya Pravda (“Pioneer Truth”), Pioneer (“Pioneer”), Koster (“Bonfire”), etc.) of drawings, letters and artistic texts created by Japanese children. Mention is made of articles by Japanese specialists in children’s art education published in the journal Detskaya literatura (“Children’s Literature”). The main body of publications is identified; letters, stories and poems are cited, drawings and engravings are described. The materials are covered in chronological order and considered in the context of Soviet-Japanese relations. Their themes are compared with the image of Japan that was relevant in the USSR in the corresponding period. The material makes it possible to trace how the ideological factor influenced the formation of the image of Japan in Soviet periodicals for children. During Thaw, the letters contain elements of the image of Japan that are inherent in the official Soviet Cold War discourse: social problems after World War II, remilitarization, US military aggression, the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, anti-nuclear and anti-American struggle, Japanese national identity. Since the 1970s, these topics have disappeared from the letters of Japanese children, replaced by a benevolent interest in the USSR, almost devoid of an ideological component.