The first Russian japanologist - to the 140th anniversary of Pavel G. Vaskevich

This paper is a study of Pavel Vaskevich’s life and activities. He was by nature a very gifted person, who served his country (Czarist Russia) in various fields through the first quarter of the 20th century. His life-story could be a good example, in our opinion, how a single chance can play defining role in one’s fate; how the choice made in his youth could determine the individual’s whole further life. Vaskevich is a case of professional attitude to work and persistence in aim achievement for us. Some time ago, we’ve already «opened» Vaskevich’s name to the Japanese reading public. Now the time has come to introduce this person to Russian readers. He was born in 1876, Dec. 16, in a priest’s family. After the seminary Vaskevich has decided to start studying Japan, so he moved to Vladivostok and joined the Institute of Oriental Studies, which had just been opened there (1899). In 1902 Vaskevich explored Japan’s western prefectures; his account was published as a book in Vladivostok. After graduating from the Institute, Vaskevich became an interpreter for the Imperial Russian Army during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), then he served as diplomat in Korea (Seoul, then Masampo), Japan (Tokyo) and China, where he was the last Russian Consul at Dairen until 1925. In the mid-war period, he has published some essays and papers about Japan and China in Russian emigrant media of the United States and China. He retired in Kobe, Japan, where he once lived with his fellow-ex-diplomat, Dmitrii I. Abrikossow, who then wrote about their life in the years of the 2nd World War in his late memoirs. In his youth, Vaskevich also wrote some research papers about Japan and Japanese people, which are still valuable today. He died in 1958, and was buried at the Foreign Cemetery of Kobe by his friends, the family of the famous Russian merchant F. D. Morozoff, with whom Vaskevich was particularly friendly in his late years. During the last decade of his life, Vaskevich also wrote some memoirs, still partly unpublished, where he described almost all his life starting with his youth, with special emphasis on Japanese things. He told about contacts with Emperor Meiji, Prince Ito, Primate Nikolai, Admiral Makarov, poet Balmont and other famous persons, including a few interesting episodes of the modern history of Russian-Japanese relations which are still unknown to the public and gave his own vision of modern society and the world order after the 2nd World War.