Book Collection
The B.U. Libraries have an excellent collection of both print and electronic resources on the history of Japan. The collection primarily covers the Meiji era (1868) to the present with an emphasis on World War II and more recent history. Earlier Japanese history is also covered. We also have a good collection on both Japanese-American history and the worldwide Japanese diaspora. The collection is mostly in English but Japanese language books and journal articles are easily found by doing a BULS (Boston University Library Search) search in the box on the main library page.
To narrow your search to our print or e-books, please do an advanced search on the B.U. library web page, using the subject phrase “Japan–history.” This search will yield hundreds of titles but you can refine the search by adding terms, e.g., Japan — History — Tokugawa period, 1600-1868. You can also use keywords, e.g., Nanjing, Hirohito, etc.
Find Articles
History Databases
- America: History & Life This link opens in a new windowCovers the history and culture of the U.S. and Canada from prehistory to present times; indexes journal articles, book titles and chapters, reviews from numerous multilingual sources; all abstracts in English. Date coverage: 1949-present. Will supply citations and some full-text articles on Japanese-Americans.
Multidisciplinary Databases
JSTOR and Project Muse are full-text interdisciplinary databases which will provide full-text articles on Japanese history, not found the HA and AHL databases.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window This database provides full text access to the back issues of core scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Book reviews are included as well as journal articles. Abstracts are available for some of the articles.
- Project Muse This link opens in a new window Project Muse provides digital access to scholarly journals and books in the humanities and social sciences. The scholarly content comes from non-profit scholarly publishers, including university presses and societies. The full text resources include journal articles, book reviews and book chapters.
Asian Studies Database
- Bibliography of Asian Studies This link opens in a new windowAlthough this unique database covers scholarly literature from the vast expanse of Asia, the Bibliography of Asian Studies (BAS) is also an excellent source for finding articles on Japanese history and the Japanese diaspora. The index provides access to many journals published in Japan but are not indexed elsewhere. In addition, BAS indexes the contents of edited volumes, conference proceedings, anthologies, Festschriften and similar publications. Please note: this database only cites materials written in English and European languages.
Japanese History Online
A huge number of websites cover Japanese history but we are only including a few authoritative sites compiled by scholars of Japan.
- Research Guide for Modern Japanese History (Harvard University)Compiled by Harvard librarians for use in Japanese history courses, this guide is a superb portal providing access to many freely-available digitized materials primarily published in English but also includes Japanese language materials and useful bibliographies.
- Japan as a World Power (Fordham University)This Fordham University website contains a subset of texts derived from the three major online sourcebooks; the Japan as a World Power section has excellent links to primary English language literature on Japanese history.
- International Nikkei Research ProjectThe Japanese American National Museum's International Nikkei Research Project website provides a wide range of information on the Nikkei (people of Japanese ancestry) including demographic information and chronologies on countries with significant Nikkei populations, a chronological overview of emigration from Japan, and directories of resources about the Nikkei.
- H-JapanH-Japan is an international electronic discussion group, providing scholars, graduate students and others, a daily forum to discuss Japanese history, culture, religion and society.
