abstract

Place-names are necessary tools to specify a geographic position. As geographic information systems (GIS) have become popular in recent years, geocoding that links a place-name with its latitude and longitude is essential. In Japan, some research organizations and companies have provided geocoding services (e.g., Center for Spatial Information Science, The University of Tokyo). Overseas, GeoNames is a remarkable service that provides information about place-names around the world. However, these services provide only contemporary place-names and are not applicable to place-names in historical documents. To solve this issue, we have constructed a historical gazetteer data of Japan.

As of March 2021, 186,000 pre-modern Japanese texts, that is, 22 million images in total, have been digitized and made available online on the "Database of Pre-Modern Japanese Works" launched by the NIJL-NW project at the National Institute of Japanese Literature (NIJL). The massive release of images will likely revolutionize the way we study pre-modern Japanese texts. Will research using digital images replace research that is conducted by visiting libraries and accessing physical collections? In fact, while there is much that digital images enable us to do, there are also things that we can research only by browsing in the library.

In this presentation, CDDP task force co-Chairs will present a behind-the-scenes view of the making of this series, how to use it for research and instruction, and what the CDDP’s next steps will be. These resources align with NCC’s mission to prepare a new generation of Japanese studies librarians, scholars, and information specialists to meet the growing challenges and rapidly changing technologies of the field. 

In the year 2021 we celebrate 160 years of German-Japanese relations. On behalf of Prussia an expedition lead by the Count Friedrich zu Eulenburg arrived in Japan in September 1860. It took five months of negotiations until the so called “Treaty of Amity and Commerce” between Prussia and Japan was finally signed on 24th January 1861. Between the official meetings the members of the expedition had a considerable amount of free time that they spent with exploring Edo and its surroundings. In the official report about the expedition extended passages concerning shopping, book stores and Japanese reading habits are to be found.

In the paper we investigate the set of maps by Daikokuya Kōdayū. The maps are studied in their historical context, but it will not be a new study of the history of Daikokuya Kōdayū and the Russian-Japanese relation in the end of the 18th century, illustrated by maps. Instead, we propose a systematic quantitative analysis of the set of maps. 

This presentation aims to share our practice using papiers and Japanese’s techniques to conserve and to restore library book collections, their materiality. Japanese papers and techniques are now widely used as preservation practices and as archival material around the world. They help extend the life of library artifacts. These papers added to the original materials prolonging the life of these documents.

This analysis serves the purpose of informing Japanese resource specialists of a Japanese language collection of literature in the All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature which is considered to be one of the most prominent and valuable libraries in Russia. 

In the 19th century Japan and Russia were facing many political and cultural changes: the restoration of imperial rule in Japan and the abolition of serfdom in Russia in the 60s of the 19th century. These events greatly influenced further development of libraries and reading. This paper analyzes the following aspects:
1. Appearance of first public libraries in Russia and Japan.
2. Development of private libraries in two countries.
3. Consideration of readers and published literature in the context of social and cultural situations in two countries.

In 1888, the Imperial University (present-day The University of Tokyo) history instructor Ludwig Riess (1861–1928) submitted an opinion statement to the university which stated, “In the national archives of the Netherlands at The Hague, there are many precious sources relating to Japanese history.” This led to the University subsequently engaging in the first ever overseas survey of Japan-related historical sources. In the 1920s, the Japan Academy began a Union Académique Internationale (UAI) overseas Japan-related historical sources survey project. In 1954, it was taken over by the Historiographical Institute.
In this report, I will cover this research project’s progress and ultimate aims, as well as discuss the results of an on-going historical sources survey and joint research in Russia.

In this presentation I would like to attract your attention to materials housed in GARF (State Archive of Russian Federation). The archive was created in 1992. Japan related materials may be found in the following depositories: Soviet-Japan and Japan-Soviet Friendship Societies, Soviet Committee for Peace, Soviet Committee for Solidarity with Asian and African Countries and materials of International Conferences for Prohibition of Nuclear and Hydrogen Weapons. So far this archive materials were used by some Russian and American scholars for the study of Soviet Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries in the interwar period, but postwar materials have not been much used, though they contain some useful information on how Japan and the Soviet Union perceived each other.