The influence of Japanese popular culture on Russian youth communities

This research provides valuable insights into the lives of Russian youth in the context of political and economic realms of the modern world. This project started as an attempt to explore how Russian young people become interested in Japanese culture, what they find attractive in it, what they take from it into their everyday life. The conversation about interactions between cultures engages with the discussion on the multi-centred nature of globalisation. When the current political discourse in Russia emphasises its uniqueness and fundamental disagreements with western cultural values, do Russian young people indeed feel themselves in opposition to the outside world? What strategies do they use to cope with the growing social pressure in the constantly changing social and cultural environment? Drawing upon the ethnographic data collected in five Russian cities, this research explores the decentralised network of Russian anime fans engaged in the dissemination of Japanese-inspired cultural practice. Analysing the impact of Japanese culture on individual biographies, this research makes a connection between them and the activity of youth groups and youth collectives bound by this culture and operating in the realities of modern Russia. This research examines how such factors as economic disparities between centre and periphery affect young lives in different geographic locations, how youth groups interact with official power structures and post-Soviet cultural institutions. The thesis explores how forming “communities of practice” young people engaged with anime and especially with cosplay communities foster meaningful social connections, learn useful skills, gain the life changing experience of solidarity and collective actions