Welcome to the Japanese Studies Subject Research Guide
Your subject librarians have designed this guide to highlight online resources at the University of Melbourne Library that are relevant to Japanese Studies.
This guide is intended to be a starting point for your research. For a more comprehensive list of Library resources for this subject please visit the A-Z eJournals and Databases website.
Note: The buttons below will open resources in new windows.
When using the UniMelb library catalogue:
There are more specific search tips under each of the sections of this guide.
The databases below are multidisciplinary so you can expect lots of results from different subject areas.
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.
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.
The library also holds Japanese periodicals (or journals) in print as part of the East Asian Collection at the ERC, including:
Click on the button below to view a selection of online Japanese Studies eJournals that the Library holds (this will open in a new window). For a complete list of eJournals please visit our A-Z eJournals page.
To find books on a particular subject, use a keyword search on the Library Catalogue. For example:
Meiji Restoration
Japanese media
Shintoism
legal reform
Keyword searching often retrieves a large number of results. These four techniques can help you focus your search:
AND
Narrows your search
E.g. Japanese AND media
OR
Expands your search
E.g. legal OR law OR judicial
" "
Searches for an exact phrase
E.g. "Meiji Restoration"
*
searches for variant endings
E.g. Shinto* = Shinto, Shintoism, Shintoist
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:
You can also find books on similar topics through the subject headings in item records. Click on these headings to view related subjects around your area and the all the books that the library has related to that subject. The image below shows where you can find subject headings.
Request books from other universities through the BONUS+ catalogue and collect them from any Unimelb branch library.
Visit the BONUS+ webpage for more info.
Inter-Library Loans
University of Melbourne staff and students can request resources through the Library’s Inter-Library Loans service. For more information visit the ILL web page, or you can access the request forms.
A CAVAL card allows you to borrow from other universities and TAFEs. Visit the CAVAL website to find out how to sign up for a CAVAL card.
You can then use the Trove website to see which library has the book you want.
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.
Architecture, Building and Planning Library
Books on Japanese architecture
Media Collection: DVDs, videos
Japanese language teaching books, DVDs and other resources
Books on Japanese law
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.
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.
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.
Click the link below to view a list of available resources for the JAPN20009/30010 classes:
日本の新聞データベースを使って練習をして下さい。
Xiaoju Liu
Senior Librarian, Chinese & Asian Studies
