Japan – Research

Libraries

Finding and accessing what you need

University libraries are generally located on the same the university campus. Most Japanese universities are purpose-built and they are surrounded by a wall. Buildings within a wall tend to have one and the same address. For example, the address of a building in Komaba Campus, University of Tokyo would be as follows: Building No. 8, 3-8-1, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo. Students ID cards are often necessary to enter university libraries, as in the UK.

If a university has more than one campus, each campus often has their own library: for example, the University of Tokyo has three campuses (Hongō, Komaba and Kashiwa), so it has three university libraries. Students can use all of the libraries belonging to their university. Some universities offer ‘inter-library’ or ‘inter-campus’ loans between their university libraries for free. In the example of the University of Tokyo, a student at Hongō campus can ask their university library to deliver books from Komaba and Kashiwa. Some universities have their campuses in places far from each other (it sometimes takes more than one hour to go from one campus to another by train), so using this system is highly recommendable.

In some large universities with many faculties, each faculty has their own library (library of the faculty of letters, anthropology, etc.). They are often called 図書室 toshoshitsu with their faculty’s name, such as 文学部図書室, bungakubu toshoshitu (library of the faculty of letters). They are often located within their faculty building. They have their own rules about entrance, borrowings and open hours. It’s best to consult their website or ask their librarians for information. You may need to register with faculty libraries in person and have their entrance card.

Opening times

University libraries are open from morning to evening during term time. Generally speaking, staffed hours are between 10.00am – 5.00pm. Some university libraries open at weekends and holidays, but normally no staff services are available.

University libraries generally open during vacations (Aug-Sep, Dec-Jan, Feb-Mar) with shorter opening hours than during term time. All university libraries close in special holidays: the (o)Bon Festival (around 13th – 15th August) and the New Year (shōgatsu, 30th Dec – 3rd Jan). Students do not have access when their university holds their entrance examinations for undergraduates (generally in February and March). Public universities and some private universities do not allow students to enter their campuses when they hold the nationwide examination for university applicants (センター試験, sentā shiken) usually in the fourth weekend of January.

Faculty libraries have their own opening hours, and they tend to close at night, weekends and during vacations.

Organisation

Most universities have both open stacks and closed stacks. Closed stacks tend to contain more specialist resources. To access closed stacks, students need to ask a librarian’s permission. Alternatively, in some universities, students must ask librarians to retrieve books. There may be special collections (some of them are called ‘person’s name + 文庫 bunko’), which sometimes have their own rules to access. Ask librarians for the details of access to such collections.

They also have ‘reference’ books, typically with a red round 禁帯出 kin taishutsu ‘forbidden to check out’ label or a green round 参考書 sankō sho ‘reference’ label on their spine.

Electronic catalogues

University libraries have their own electronic catalogues. They can be found on their website and everybody can use their catalogue without logging in. Most university libraries have their own website outside the university website domain. For example, the University of Tokyo’s website and their library’s website. Electronic library catalogues generally show the location of the book and its current status (on loan, reference, etc.). As in British university libraries, students can reserve books through catalogues.

CiNii Books is the national electronic catalogue covering most university libraries in Japan. This catalogue, however, is not always correct or complete, so you need to check the university catalogue which contains the book you are looking for.

Borrowing books

The simplest way is to bring books to the library counter. Probably you will be asked to present your student ID. Self check-out machines are available in many university libraries. The number of books you can borrow and how long for depends on the university, but usually you can borrow at least five books for one week. Some faculty libraries have their own rules for borrowing and they deal with borrowings separately from university libraries; you can borrow books from a faculty library even when you cannot borrow books from the university library.

To return the book, you can visit the library counter. Some university libraries have book drops outside their buildings. Many libraries have penalties for overdue books, such as restrictions on further borrowing for a fixed period. Fines are not common; although some universities have light fines (e.g. International Christian University Library charges 10 yen per day).

Libraries do not normally offer services in English and most of the staff are Japanese. Staff may speak English a little, but generally speaking Japanese people are not used to speaking in English, so you shouldn’t expect them to speak good English. It is highly recommended that you learn Japanese in Japan.

Inter-library loans

Postgraduate students can order inter-library loans, i.e. borrowing books from other university libraries at the students’ own expense. It generally costs more than 1,000 yen per book and sometimes students can use the book only for one week. They must borrow the book at the library counter and return the book to the counter (not a book drop).

They can also order photocopies of journals from other universities. Ordering a photocopy of a part of a book and articles in the latest issues of journals are not allowed in this system. They charge a rather expensive photocopying fee (between 20 – 45 yen per sheet, depending on the university which performs the photocopying) plus postage fee (around 150 yen). Fees are not told beforehand, so you might be surprised how much your articles cost! An article with 30 pages (15 sheets) may cost around 500 yen. Sometimes it costs much less to visit libraries which hold books and journals you want to read and make a photocopy by yourself. Fees are paid in cash at library counters. Credit/debit cards are not accepted there.

Facilities

Photocopying machines are available in most libraries. The fee is 10 yen per page (monochrome) or 50 or 100 yen (full colour) all across Japan. This fee is also same with photocopying machines available in convenience stores. The fee will not change even if you use double-sided mode (i.e. when you print out on the both side of a sheet, it costs 20 yen). Many universities have a pre-paid ‘copy card’, which is sold through vending machines or university shops / co-op, which are similar to the students’ union in the UK. Different universities may use different types of copy cards, so buying such cards at a university you do not belong to is not recommended. They also have machines operating with coins. Some machines do not give change.

Students are asked to fill in a form before making photocopies to protect copyright. University libraries monitor what students photocopy with these forms. Scanners are not available in many university libraries.

University libraries have reading rooms, PC rooms/spaces and rooms for groups. People are expected to be silent in most parts of the library. Eating and drinking, except water, is prohibited and there is a space for eating, drinking and talking on the phone in a library. Some reading rooms prohibit using PCs to keep them silent. University library rooms are open to all students, so it is hard to find a space, especially before and during exam periods (Japanese exam periods usually fall on to the last three weeks of each term). It may be better to use spaces only for postgraduate students if you want to study at your university.

Wi-Fi access is not very common in Japanese university libraries. They usually have networked computers. You need to log into these computers using an account provided by your university.

Accessing libraries at other institutions

Students need a reference letter (紹介状 shōkai jō) to use a university library other than their university. Reference letters are free. They can be obtained from the counter of the university library (usually called レファレンスサービス, refarensu sābisu, reference service) with which they are registered. You need to write down the name of the library you want to visit, information on the books you want to read, why you need to read the books (e.g. for your PhD thesis), and how long you need to visit the library in the form (申込書 mōshikomi sho).

Your form will be sent to the university library you want to use and be approved. It may take a few days to get a response from the library. At the library, show the reference letter at the counter (so you must visit there at staffed hours). They often reserve the books you want for you. Normally you cannot borrow books from there. You can use photocopying machines.

Postgraduate students at national universities can use other national university libraries with their student ID, but it is better to get references so that the library will reserve the books you need for you. Some universities have consortiums with nearby universities. In this case students can use university libraries within the consortium.

Accessing non-university libraries

Civic and prefectural libraries are open to everybody. To borrow the book, however, you need to be a resident of the city/prefecture. You need to present a proof of address to register with libraries.

There are some electronic catalogues for public libraries across the prefectures, for example:

東京都立図書館統合検索 (public libraries in Tokyo, English and Japanese)

大阪府web-OPAC (public libraries in Osaka, Kyoto, Shiga, Nara and Wakayama, Japanese only)