diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwgui/journalbooks.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwgui/journalbooks.cpp
index e8aa231581..1075239fa8 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwgui/journalbooks.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwgui/journalbooks.cpp
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ BookTypesetter::Ptr JournalBooks::createLatinJournalIndex ()
         const MWGui::TextColours& textColours = MWBase::Environment::get().getWindowManager()->getTextColours();
         BookTypesetter::Style* style = typesetter->createHotStyle (body, textColours.journalTopic,
                                                                    textColours.journalTopicOver,
-                                                                   textColours.journalTopicPressed, (uint32_t) ch);
+                                                                   textColours.journalTopicPressed, (Utf8Stream::UnicodeChar) ch);
 
         if (i == 13)
             typesetter->sectionBreak ();
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ BookTypesetter::Ptr JournalBooks::createCyrillicJournalIndex ()
         sprintf(buffer, "( %c%c )", ch[0], ch[1]);
 
         Utf8Stream stream ((char*) ch);
-        uint32_t first = stream.peek();
+        Utf8Stream::UnicodeChar first = stream.peek();
 
         const MWGui::TextColours& textColours = MWBase::Environment::get().getWindowManager()->getTextColours();
         BookTypesetter::Style* style = typesetter->createHotStyle (body, textColours.journalTopic,
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwgui/journalviewmodel.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwgui/journalviewmodel.cpp
index 6ff68c9c5e..63b48eab12 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwgui/journalviewmodel.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwgui/journalviewmodel.cpp
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 
 #include <components/translation/translation.hpp>
 #include <components/misc/stringops.hpp>
-#include <components/misc/utf8stream.hpp>
 
 #include "../mwbase/world.hpp"
 #include "../mwbase/journal.hpp"
@@ -307,39 +306,22 @@ struct JournalViewModelImpl : JournalViewModel
         visitor (toUtf8Span (topic.getName()));
     }
 
-    void visitTopicNamesStartingWith (uint32_t character, std::function < void (const std::string&) > visitor) const
+    void visitTopicNamesStartingWith (Utf8Stream::UnicodeChar character, std::function < void (const std::string&) > visitor) const
     {
         MWBase::Journal * journal = MWBase::Environment::get().getJournal();
 
         for (MWBase::Journal::TTopicIter i = journal->topicBegin (); i != journal->topicEnd (); ++i)
         {
             Utf8Stream stream (i->first.c_str());
-            uint32_t first = toUpper(stream.peek());
+            Utf8Stream::UnicodeChar first = Misc::StringUtils::toLowerUtf8(stream.peek());
 
-            if (first != character)
+            if (first != Misc::StringUtils::toLowerUtf8(character))
                 continue;
 
             visitor (i->second.getName());
         }
     }
 
-    static uint32_t toUpper(uint32_t ch)
-    {
-        // Russian alphabet
-        if (ch >= 0x0430 && ch < 0x0450)
-            ch -= 0x20;
-
-        // Cyrillic IO character
-        if (ch == 0x0451)
-            ch -= 0x50;
-
-        // Latin alphabet
-        if (ch >= 0x61 && ch < 0x80)
-            ch -= 0x20;
-
-        return ch;
-    }
-
     struct TopicEntryImpl : BaseEntry <MWDialogue::Topic::TEntryIter, TopicEntry>
     {
         MWDialogue::Topic const & mTopic;
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwgui/journalviewmodel.hpp b/apps/openmw/mwgui/journalviewmodel.hpp
index 01dcb49def..fa40902250 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwgui/journalviewmodel.hpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwgui/journalviewmodel.hpp
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 #include <functional>
 #include <stdint.h>
 
+#include <components/misc/utf8stream.hpp>
+
 namespace MWGui
 {
     /// View-Model for the journal GUI
@@ -76,7 +78,7 @@ namespace MWGui
         virtual void visitTopicName (TopicId topicId, std::function <void (Utf8Span)> visitor) const = 0;
 
         /// walks over the topics whose names start with the character
-        virtual void visitTopicNamesStartingWith (uint32_t character, std::function < void (const std::string&) > visitor) const = 0;
+        virtual void visitTopicNamesStartingWith (Utf8Stream::UnicodeChar character, std::function < void (const std::string&) > visitor) const = 0;
 
         /// walks over the topic entries for the topic specified by its identifier
         virtual void visitTopicEntries (TopicId topicId, std::function <void (TopicEntry const &)> visitor) const = 0;
diff --git a/components/misc/utf8stream.hpp b/components/misc/utf8stream.hpp
index 368374a647..e499d15e60 100644
--- a/components/misc/utf8stream.hpp
+++ b/components/misc/utf8stream.hpp
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #ifndef MISC_UTF8ITER_HPP
 #define MISC_UTF8ITER_HPP
 
+#include <cstring>
 #include <tuple>
 
 class Utf8Stream