Digital resources available from the Japanese government
Monday, May 23rd, 2005The National Diet Library offers two interesting databases:
The Digital Library from the Meiji Era, available in Japanese only. This database offers images of books published in the Meiji era and held by the NDL. As of July 2004, 54,349 volumes, almost all whose copyrights are confirmed to have expired, excluding children’s books and books in Western languages, are available.
The Rare Books Image Database, is mostly useful for its large collection of ukiyo-e style prints. This database is only available in Japanese. These images (approx. 33,000 items) are from the collections of the NDL and published mostly during the Edo Period.
The National Archives of Japan features two databases.
The Digital Gallery is probably the most interesting. It has public records which include, “Digitized images of 99 items of records including the original of the Constitution of Japan, and others such as “Picture Map of the Shimbashi-Yokohama Railroad” and “Photographs of the Aizu Wakamatsu Castle” are available.” The cabinet library section includes, “digitized images of 124 items of materials are offered. Among them are those of 83 items of ‘Tempo no Kuni Ezu,’ maps of provinces compiled by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1848, designated Important Cultural Properties of Japan.”
There is also a link to the Digital Archive System, which contains in the public records section, “descriptions of about 570,000 volumes of the records which were transferred from the ministries and agencies of the government of Japan are offered. About 120,000 flames [sic, do they mean files?] of digitized images of about 2,500 volumes of records including those of the cabinet meetings concerning the postwar reforms such as the formulation of the Constitution of Japan are also offered.” The cabinet library section has, “descriptions of about 430,000 volumes of Japanese and Chinese books are offered.”
The Japan Center for Asian Historical Records - The “Asian Historical Records” that form the content of the JACAR database are “Japan’s documents and other records having importance as historical records concerning Japan’s relationship with neighboring Asian countries and other countries in modern times.”