University of Heidelberg

After the forced opening of the country in 1853 under the threat of Commodore Perrys "black ships" and the following Meiji Revolution (1868), Japan underwent a period of drastic change. Modernization after western models and - as a result - the search for its own identity as a nation was one of the main topics the young state had to deal with. Transcultural and transnational flows took place also in the fields of popular culture; the British "Punch" magazine as a blueprint of satirical journalism inspired a range of Japanese artists and sharpened the view for political themes.

Ten years after the surprising triumph over its Asian neighbor China, Japan faced a new enemy in 1904: Russia, one of the formerly admired western powers. Contemporary satire and caricature can be read as a mirror for the struggle for a "national face" and the mode of representation. It is therefore an important source in times of cultural change.