Helpful Information
Library Resources
Language Resources
Contact
Steve Witt
Head
International & Area Studies Library
Associate Professor
University Library
Director
Center for Global Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Office
311 Main Library
Email
swwitt@illinois.edu
Japanese Culture and History
National Diet Library Digital Collections 国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション
This is a portal to the digitized collection of the National Diet Library which contains rare old books, Tohoku newspapers, dissertations the Occupation period materials, and constitutional materials.Nichibunken Database 国際日本文化研究センター
Nichibunken provides a rich variety of resources regarding Japanese culture, however, some require registration to accessCenter for Japanese Studies Publications
This is a digital archive that provides free copies of out-of-print CJS publications and additional books which are all browsable on the site and available for PDF downloadKokugakuin University’s Digital Museum
This website is intended to encourage educational and research activities by providing access to the research produced by Kokugakuin University and includes databases, online encyclopedias, and an online library. They are available in Japanese, English, Korean, and other languages.Institute of Developing Economies Japan External Trading Organization 日本貿易振興機構アジア経済研究所
The IDE Library boasts a wide selection of materials and resources to assist research dealing with the economics, politics and social issues of developing countries and regions in Asia, Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Oceania, and East Europe.Yamazaki DOC Digital Archive 山崎元幹文書デジタルアーカイブ
The Institute of Developing Economies (IDE) Library released a catalog of 538 Manchurian Railway business documents and electronic images of the originals kept by Motomitsu Yamazaki, the last president of the South Manchurian Railway Company (Manchurian Railway).
Literature
Waseda University Database of Japanese and Chinese Classics 早稲田大学古典総合データベース
This is a database of a wide variety of classical, early modern, and modern texts, provided by Waseda University, one of the prominent institutions in Tokyo for the free of use and free to download.
Cultural Heritage and Museum Collections
Cultural Heritage Online 文化遺産オンライン
This website provides an archive of digital images of cultural heritage items and properties administered by the Japanese Ministry of Culture.eMuseum
This page provides high definition images of national treasures and important properties owned by four national museums that belong to the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, together with their descriptions in multiple languagesNon-Written Cultural materials
This is a database by Kanagawa University on intangible cultural properties, including indexes to references and research, as well as images and survey informationMIT Visualizing Cultures
Visualizing Cultures was launched at MIT in 2002 to explore the potential of the Web for developing innovative image-driven scholarship and learning. The VC mission is to use new technology and hitherto inaccessible visual materials to reconstruct the past as people of the time visualized the world (or imagined it to be). Topical units to date focus on Japan in the modern world and early-modern China. The thrust of these explorations extends beyond Asia per se, however, to address “culture” in much broader ways—cultures of modernization, war and peace, consumerism, images of “Self” and “Others,” and so on.