Japanese Studies and Language

This subject guide highlights some key discipline resources to get you started with study and research. 

• Refer to the New Students Library Guide for everything you need to know about Library services and resources.
• Build your researching, reading and writing skills with the Research Essentials Library Guide.
• Streamline your access to online resources with the Library's quick access tools.

Tips on how to search for Japanese resources:

When using the UniMelb library catalogue:

• search using either Romanised Japanese or in Japanese text. If using Romanisation, follow the Modified Hepburn Romanization System and don't include long vowels. For example, type in "benkyo" rather than "benkyou" or "benkyoo". For more information, check the Hepburn Romanization chart (this will open in a new window).
• use a keyword search for preference.
• type in Japanese characters.

There are more specific search tips under each of the sections of this guide. 

Use databases to search across many academic resources (including peer-reviewed journals) at the same time. 

Refer to the A-Z Ejournals and Databases page for a comprehensive list of available resources. 

Core Arts and Humanities databases (try these first):

The selection of multidisciplinary databases below will retrieve results from different subject areas. 

Japanese Studies-specific journal databases:

For more focused results try searching in one of these subject-specific databases.

Finding articles in Japanese

It is rare to find full text articles in Japanese. The best way to obtain articles is to search the following indexes; please note that the full-text may not be available for all articles. If a full-text link is not included, you may be able to request the article via Inter-Library Loan (this will open in a new window). Please type in Romanization for the Japanese language input details.

Why are there so few full text Japanese articles online?

Good question! It is possibly because the Japanese publishing industry is very conservative. There is more open sharing in academia, primarily science and technology fields but it is still nowhere near as open as the Western publishing industries. You can start your search by visiting CiNii Articles, which offers a useful index of academic papers with some available as full-text.

Print journals

The library also holds Japanese periodicals (or journals) in print as part of the East Asian Collection at the ERC, including:

The Library Catalogue can help you find books

To find books on a particular subject, use a keyword search on the Library Catalogue. For example:

Keyword searching often retrieves a large number of results. These four techniques can help you focus your search:

The video below (3:47 mins) explains how you can use these advanced search techniques to quickly find relevant books and ebooks in the catalogue:

Looking for a book we don't have or is not on our shelves?

Japanese print books in the General East Asian Collection

Japanese language materials are spread over several libraries, and most are kept in the Rare East Asian Collection (consists of Chinese and Japanese language materials ranging from the 17th century to the 21st century) and the General East Asian Collection (consists of both print and electronic research materials in Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages). The General East Asian Collection mainly covers the areas of arts and humanities, social sciences and architectural history. Print materials within the General East Asian Collection are kept on level 2 & 3 of the Eastern Resource Centre (ERC) Library.

Visit the East Asian Collection

The Rare East Asian Collection

The Rare East Asian Collection houses more than 20,000 volumes of titles in Chinese and Japanese languages ranging from the 17th century to the 21st century.

Collection items can be requested for viewing in the Special Collections Reading Room at Baillieu Library, Level 3. 

Primary source databases

You can find relevant information and resources for your research on the websites of professional organisations and bodies, institutes, NGOs, government departments, etc.

This guide gives a few suggestions to get you started and to give you an idea what to look for. It is by no means comprehensive. If you are a coursework student, check your LMS to see if your lecturer has provided website recommendations.

Tip: if you want to limit your Google search results to organisational, governmental, or educational websites, use Google's advanced search option to limit the site or domains to .org, .gov, .edu. 

Japanese Studies Associations

Libraries and other associations

Need help with your referencing? Click on the button below:

Visit the Re:Cite guide to referencing

How to reference Japanese resources

There are some standard principles for referencing Japanese language resources, whichever referencing style you might be asked to use. The following examples will be based on the APA referencing style, which is most commonly used style in Arts and Humanities studies. You can get further help by contacting your subject librarian.

Learn how reference management software can help you with referencing:

Visit the Getting Started with Reference Management guide

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