East Asian Studies

The video above provides an excellent foundational understanding of how to search for Japanese language resources effectively. 

Searching with Japanese characters is a good starting point if you are unfamiliar with Library of Congress (LC) romanization rules (Modified Hepburn or Kunrei-shiki romanization) or you are searching for a known title. However, generally, searching the UAL Catalogue with romanization remains the most effective way to find Japanese language material.

For a more comprehensive search, consider using a combination of:

• Modified Hepburn (without macrons and apostrophes)
• Kunrei-shiki romanization (without macrons and apostrophes)
• Kanji characters (old and new)
• Japanese romanization rules for academic writing

Search tools (catalogues & databases) may search for original language and/or transliteration and/or translations. The results depend on what information (metadata) exists for each item. The UAL Catalogue can generally map old Kanji to new Kanji characters, and vice-versa.

• E.g., searching for "江戸" or "江戶" will retrieve the same results

While there are specific rules regarding spacing in Japanese romanization, consider trying variations in how you join characters as records may contain different information.

• E.g., "Nihongo" OR "Nihon go" OR "日本語"

Additional resources:

• Complete Library of Congress (LC) Japanese Romanization guide (PDF)
• Yale University Library's abbreviated LC Japanese Romanization guide (Web)
• National Diet Library's Kunrei-shiki guidelines (Web)

Collections of documents and primary materials

NOTE: See "ESIA general resource" tab for other inter/disciplinary sources with Japan/Japanese content.

We have hundreds of Japanese dictionaries (from simple language learning to thematic to historical) in Japanese-only or English-Japanese or other languages. They are catagorised by about 20 subject headings and many call number ranges. Here are some ways to find them. 

Online (library subscription)

Browsing the stacks: 

• Japanese language is PL 501 - 699 
• Many dictionaries clustered in PL 650 - 700 (particularly PL 679)
• Thematic dictionaries in relevant areas (e.g. DS 800-900 Japanese history, NA for architecture, HF for business, GV for sports/recreation, etc)

UAlberta  and NEOS libraries search

(note: with the following searches, be sure to select Databases → university of alberta library (which includes all NEOS).

Japanese-English, English-Japanese

("japanese language" AND (Dictionar* OR "terms and phrases" OR glossar*) AND English) OR ("English language" AND (Dictionar* OR "terms and phrases" OR glossar*) AND Japanese) [in subject terms]

Dictionaries of Japanese, in Japanese

"japanese language dictionaries"  [in SU subject terms] NOT ( english OR chinese OR korean OR portuguese OR russian OR sinhalese OR punjabi OR chinese)

All Japan-related dictionaries in UAlberta and NEOS libraries (almost).

•  Subject terms only search (about 650 results):
  • (japan OR japanese) AND (dictionary OR dictionaries OR terminology OR "terms and phrases" OR glossar*)
• All fields search (about 800 results):
  • (japan OR japanese) AND (dictionary OR dictionaries OR terminology OR "terms and phrases" OR glossar*)

​To narrow above search results: 

• add more AND statements. E.g. idioms, etymology, slang, "ancient chinese", dialects, translat*

Free (out of our control, may contain ads)

Japan-specific or in Japanese

See the Audio & Video subject guide for a variety of streaming film and video sources

DVD / Blu-Ray / VHS

Use terms like "feature films" or "television programs" combined with the country name (e.g. Japan,Tokyo,Yokohama).

Limit results by searching in the subject field (or using DE in Ebsco databases).  

• "feature films" AND Japan
• "television programs" AND "Japan"  
• DE "Feature films" AND Japan

Notes

• DVD region code: Most are Region 1 (Canada and USA). Discs with other region codes require multi-region DVD player.
• Subtitles: Many have English subtitles - but not all