E-resources Advent Calendar Window 2 : Japanese and Korean films for the holidays

Would you like to start the holidays with a gentle and heart-warming film? We recommend ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service,’ a 1989 animated film by Hayao Miyazaki.

This is one of many Japanese and Korean films available on the ‘Box of Broadcasts’ from Learning on Screen, a database of programmes shown on UK television dating back to the 1970s. Please note access is only available within the UK.

Dr Kristin Williams, Head of Japanese and Korean Section at Cambridge University Library, has  made playlists of Japanese and Korean films that you might want to use for listening practice over the Christmas break. There are samurai films by Kurosawa, animated films from Studio Ghibli, the zombie movie ‘Train to Busan’, the recent award-winning Korean film ‘Parasite’, and many others.

Film playlists:

Korean films https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/playlists/303745

Japanese films https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/playlists/352279

More e-resources:

Korean: https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/departments/korean-collections/e-resources-korean-studies

Japanese: https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/departments/japanese-collections/e-resources-japanese-studies

Kikuzo II Visual : Changes to “Asahi Shimbun Cross-search” from 30 November 2022

Kikuzo II Visual for Libraries is a news retrieval service from the publisher of Japan’s second largest circulation newspaper, Asahi shimbun. Coverage includes many thousands of full text articles from 1945 to the present. It includes image data of the pages of the Asahi Shimbun Reduced-size Facsimile Edition from 1879 to 1989, as well as articles from AERA and Shukan Asahi, two leading weekly magazines.

From 30 November 2022 Kikuzo II Visual will be available from a new URL for its successor platform now called Asahi Shimbun Cross-Search

An introduction video of “Asahi Shimbun Cross-Search” is now available on YouTube.

Flag of the Asahi Shimbun Company

Also available to access via the Databases A-Z.

E-Resource Update : Bungei Shunju Archives (1933-1950)

We are very pleased to announce that our access to the Bungei Shunju Archives has been extended to cover the years 1933-1950.

​​From the publisher website:

Bungeishunju is a general monthly magazine founded by the author Kikuchi Kan in January 1923 (Taisho 12). As Kikuchi wrote in his Founding Message, “I’m tired of being asked to say things. I want to say what I am thinking with a sense of freedom, without having to be concerned about readers and editors,” he founded the magazine with the wish to conduct free writing activities that would not be hemmed in by the framework of literary circles. Bungeishunju became a forum for the publication of essays and creative writing by a great number of authors including, of course, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, but also Kume Masao, Kawabata Yasunari, Satomi Ton, Kobayashi Hideo and Naoki Sanjugo.

The publication of articles on current affairs also began in the early Showa period, and what especially caught the attention of the reading public were the round-table discussions. Bungeishunju was able to invite to these the most prominent personalities of the time to speak on a variety of topics.

Also available to access via iDiscover and the Databases A-Z.

This archive is part of JapanKnowledge which has a limit of 4 concurrent users, so please log out when you have finished using the resource.

New E-Resource – Diaolong Database of Chinese and Japanese Ancient Books – 雕龙中日古籍全文检索数据库

We are pleased to announce that Cambridge University members now have access to Diaolong Full-text Database of Chinese and Japanese Ancient Books.

This database contains over 35,000 ancient books in Chinese and Japanese, which cover a wider range of subjects including history, politics, economics, religion, philosophy, literature and geography. There are currently 21 sub-databases which can be searched or browsed.

1. Daozang – 道藏,
2. Daozang jiyao – 道藏辑要
3. Sibu congkan – 四部叢刊
4. Xu Sibu congkan – 續四部叢刊
5. Yongle dadian – 永樂大典
6. Gujin Tushu Jicheng – 古今圖書集成
7. Dunhuang shiliao – 敦煌史料
8. Qingdai shiliao – 清代史料
9. Zhongguo difangzhi – 中國地方誌
10. Zhongguo difangzhi xuji – 中國地方誌續集
11. Zhongguo difangzhi sanji – 中國地方誌三集
12. Riben gudian shujiku – 日本古典書籍庫
13. Siku quanshu – 四庫全書
14. Xuxiu Siku quanshu – 續修四庫全書
15. Siku cunmu – 四庫存目
16. Siku wei shou shu – 四庫未收書
17. Siku jin hui shu – 四庫禁毀書
18. Liufu wencang – 六府文藏
19. Zhongguo minjian wenxue – 中國民間文學
20. Qingdai keju zhujuan – 清代科舉硃卷
21. Yi jia ku – 醫家庫

Also available to access via the Databases A-Z.

J-DAC Databases – Trial access

Trial access to two J-DAC databases – Documents related to Masayoshi Ohira and Collection of Rare Magazines related to Sexual Culture [in Japan] – is available to 31 July 2022 for Cambridge University members.

Please tell us about your use of these resources and if you want continued access to either of them via this feedback form.

Documents related to Masayoshi Ohira  「大平正芳関係文書」

A large cache of documents left by Masayoshi Ohira (1910-1980), 68th and 69th Prime Minister of Japan. Composed of a vast and varied selection of primary source material containing everything from diaries and notebooks written personally by Ohira, to correspondence, official documents from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Industry, manuscripts for responses to Diet questions, and for Diet speeches; election material, plus transcripts of interviews with key political and financial officials conducted for the penning of Ohira’s memoirs, this is a resource of the first order for anyone with a serious interest in Japan’s post-war political history.

Please note that when searching the Ohira database you should select this database from the list below the search bar to avoid getting results from other historical databases (which are not included in this trial).

Collection of Rare Magazines related to Sexual Culture [in Japan]  「社会文化史データベース 性風俗稀少雑誌」

This database allows access to over 400 issues of magazines published in Japan between 1950 and 1970. It includes magazines published for general entertainment with stories and information about movies as well as magazines related to sexual culture. The contents reflect cultural changes after the Occupation of Japan ended in early 1952. The archive will be useful for research related to gender, sexuality, history, and literature in post-war Japan.

New E-Resource : Bungei Shunju Archives (1942-1950)

We are pleased to announce that Cambridge University members now have access to Bungei Shunju Archives (1942-1950).

Please note our subscription currently includes only the years 1942 to 1950. These issues can provide insight into what major authors and other public figures in Japan were saying during World War II and immediately after the war.

​​From the publisher website:

Bungeishunju is a general monthly magazine founded by the author Kikuchi Kan in January 1923 (Taisho 12). As Kikuchi wrote in his Founding Message, “I’m tired of being asked to say things. I want to say what I am thinking with a sense of freedom, without having to be concerned about readers and editors,” he founded the magazine with the wish to conduct free writing activities that would not be hemmed in by the framework of literary circles. Bungeishunju became a forum for the publication of essays and creative writing by a great number of authors including, of course, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, but also Kume Masao, Kawabata Yasunari, Satomi Ton, Kobayashi Hideo and Naoki Sanjugo.

The publication of articles on current affairs also began in the early Showa period, and what especially caught the attention of the reading public were the round-table discussions. Bungeishunju was able to invite to these the most prominent personalities of the time to speak on a variety of topics.

Also available to access via iDiscover and the Databases A-Z.

This archive is part of JapanKnowledge which has a limit of 4 concurrent users, so please log out when you have finished using the resource.

Diaolong Full-text Database of Chinese and Japanese Ancient Books 雕龙-中日古籍全文检索数据库 – Trial access

Trial access to the Diaolong Database of Chinese and Japanese Ancient Books is available to 30 June 2022 for Cambridge University members. This database can be accessed on campus here or off campus here.

Please tell us about your use of this resource and if you want continued access to it via this feedback form.

Diaolong Database is a project of collaboration among scholars from China, Japan and Taiwan. It is the largest and most comprehensive collection of Chinese ancient books, including over 35,000 volumes of ancient books, 8 billion characters. It covers Chinese and Japanese historical, political, economic, religious, philosophic, literary, ethnic and geographic documents.

There are currently nearly 20 sub-databases, such as Daoist scriptures (Zhengtong daozang), manuscript collections from Dunhuang, the Imperial Encyclopedia (Yongle dadian), the Imperial Library (Gu jin tushu jicheng), historical material on the Qing dynasty, a collection of old Japanese books, the two xuji Sibu congkan and Sibu beiyao, the Siku quanshu, the Xuxiu siku quanshu, the Siku catalog, banned books from the Siku, and supplemental texts to the Siku.

Japan Times Digital Archive – Trial access

Trial access to Japan’s oldest English-language newspaper the Japan Times Digital Archive is available to 15 May 2022 for Cambridge University members. This archive can be accessed on campus here or off campus here.

Please tell us about your use of this resource and if you want continued access to it via this feedback form.

From the publisher website:

“Since 1897, The Japan Times has reported daily in English on the people, places and goings-on in and beyond Japanese society. The Japan Times was launched on March 22, 1897 during the Meiji era. This was a time when Japanese society experienced political, social, and industrial revolution, from being an isolated feudal society to emerging as a great power on the world stage. Fundamental changes took place, to social structures, internal politics, economy, military, and foreign relations. The Japan Times has offered a unique point-of-view, different from other Japanese language newspapers, since its first issue. This is a rare resource of media during the Meiji and Taishō eras, available in English.“

Taiyo (The Sun) 太陽 : access until 30 June 2021

University of Cambridge members now have trial access to the complete set of ‘Taiyo (The Sun) 太陽 ’, a Japanese literary and general interest magazine published between 1895 and 1928.

Access Taiyo (The Sun) 太陽 via JapanKnowledge (trial ends 30 June 2021):

https://ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/login?url=https://japanknowledge.com/lib/en/shelf/taiyo/

Please note there is a limit of 4 simultaneous users.

More information here in English and Japanese.

Please send your feedback on this trial using the online form.

Taiyo (The Sun) 太陽 is also available to access via the Databases A-Z.

New e-resource: Shinpen Kokka taikan 新編国歌大観

Shinpen Kokka taikan 新編国歌大観 has been added to Cambridge University’s JapanKnowledge subscription.

The electronic version of this multi-volume reference work for Japanese poetry allows powerful keyword searching across all volumes so that you can find related items or identify a poem from a small portion of it.

Access Kokka taikan via JapanKnowledge (limited to 4 people at a time from Cambridge)

Our subscription to JapanKnowledge includes many eBooks, in addition to those eBooks accessible directly from iDiscover.

Of course, JapanKnowledge has dictionaries and encyclopaedias, but it also has Edo meisho zue 江戸名所図会 (1834 and 1836), 772 volumes of the Tōyō Bunko 東洋文庫, all 88 volumes of the Shinpen Nihon koten bungaku zenshū 新編 日本古典文学全集, 518 issues of Fūzoku gaho 風俗画報 (1889-1916), the 133 volumes of the Gunsho ruijū 群書類従（正・続・続々）, and up to 2 years at a time of the Shūkan Ekonomisuto 週刊エコノミスト (2020-2021).

List of contents: https://japanknowledge.com/en/contents/library.html. Please note the list of contents includes some extras that we do not subscribe to, mainly under the heading JK Books at the bottom of the page.

The Kokin Wakashū is generally regarded as the definitive anthology of waka poetry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waka_(poetry)