Primary Sources: Resources on Japan

Another post where I am catching up on resources we’ve acquired or have been informed of in the past year or so.

Japan at War and Peace, 1930-1949: Records of the US State Department Classified Files, which includes

  • Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of Japan, 1930-1939
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of Japan, 1940-1944
  • Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of Japan, 1945-1949

Japanese Censorship Project
“The Library of Congress’ Asian Division has digitized its Japanese Censorship Collection, a unique online archive comprising more than 1,000 marked-up copies of government-censored monographs and galley proofs from the 1920s and 1930s in Japan. The collection, originally from the Home Ministry’s library, reveals traces of the otherwise-hidden censorship process of the Japanese government through marginal notes, stamps, penciled lines and commentary inscribed by the censors’ own hands.”

Fūzoku Gahō
This resource provides online access to a historical journal Fūzoku Gahō which was originally published in Tokyo between February 1889 and March 1916 in 518 issues with over 38,000 articles. It is said that Fūzoku Gahō was the first graphic magazine produced in Japan. The articles published on the journal cover a wide range of subjects, including social and cultural trends and conditions in the Edo, Meiji, and Taisho periods, customs, history, literature, things/objects and affairs, geography, war and disasters.
Note: There is a limit of 4 simultaneous users; if the access is denied, please try again later.