THE IMAGE OF LATVIA AND LATVIANS ON JAPANESE TWITTER: REFLECTIONS ON PEOPLE
THE IMAGE OF LATVIA AND LATVIANS ON JAPANESE TWITTER: REFLECTIONS ON PEOPLE

Summary/Abstract: As Japanese tourists to Latvia have quintupled during the last seven years, polarized information regarding Latvians in Japanese on Twitter used by 45 million Japanese has likewise increased and keeps shaping the image of Latvia, affecting the further inbound tourist dynamics. The purpose of this study is to analyze Japanese tweets published from 2006 to 2013 reflecting the characteristics of Latvians. The methodology of acquisition and sentiment analysis of Japanese tweets is provided along with content analysis of tweets collated in five groups – 1) the historical, political and intersocietal view, 2) the bright side of Latvians, 3) the dark side of Latvians, 4) the surprising side of Latvians, and 5) a time-wise dense feed of tweets.

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