2025 conference abstracts

This presentation focuses on labor union publications by Japan National Railways (JNR) branches, which—though locally issued—often took on the format of general-interest magazines. I aim to analyze the characteristics and expressive potential of these journals, with a particular emphasis on literary content. Special attention will be given to leftist discourse and its relationship with Cold War dynamics, including the role of censorship.

This year, at the 35th EAJRS Conference, we aim to address another prevalent issue in the conservation of Japanese books: the fragility of the original sewing structures used in their bindings. As books are intended to be handled, read, preserved, and—more recently—digitized, their sewing often weakens over time, with threads deteriorating or breaking due to repeated use and manipulation.
In this presentation, we will explore how to best preserve the integrity of these bindings while maintaining the fundamental purpose of our collections: to ensure that these books remain accessible, readable, and capable of disseminating knowledge to future generations.

Following on from last year's presentation, this session will introduce the latest developments at the National Institutes for the Humanities (NIHU) and the National Museum of Japanese History, with a focus on emerging trends in Digital Humanities (DH) and Digital Archives (DA) in Japan.

A central topic will be the newly launched initiative, The Consortium Project for Digital Humanities of Japan, commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), with NIHU serving as the core institution.

The digital collections of the National Diet Library (NDL) are making a significant impact on the humanities and social sciences, both in terms of their extensive holdings and their powerful full-text search capabilities. This presentation introduces a novel methodological approach using large language models (LLMs) to analyze full-text data of modern Japanese novels provided by the NDL.

Prominent businessman and social entrepreneur Shibusawa Eiichi (1840-1931) was active across a wide range of fields from the late Edo period through the early Showa era. Throughout his life, he adhered to Rongo (the Analects of Confucius) as a personal and ethical guide. His philosophy of integrating morality with economic activity is clearly articulated in his 1916 collection of lectures, Rongo to Soroban (The Analects and the Abacus, Tōadō-shobō), a work that remains widely read today through various translations.

In order to research an author fully, it is important to make a comprehensive review of his work. Insofar, however, as so many of these plays have never been properly transcribed into typeset editions, it is necessary to rely on books published during the Edo period. Many libraries place restrictions on the use of materials published in the Edo period, and photoduplication services are often unavailable. In recent years, the rapid progress of digitization means that the number of plays and related materials that can be referenced on the Internet has increased dramatically. In this presentation, I will introduce the digital resources that I use to access both original and related material as well as provide references to earlier research.

The National Center for Art Research (NCAR) was established in 2023 within the National Museum of Art, Japan, as a central institution dedicated to the promotion of the arts in Japan. While it does not have a physical library-like space, NCAR operates Art Platform Japan (APJ), a web-based portal that provides a range of tools and resources to support both domestic and international research on modern and contemporary Japanese art.

Anonymously, Satow sold his collection of Western books at Sotheby's on 24 June 1913. Therefore, publications of book auction records, such as "Book Auction Records", "Book Prices Current", etc. contained the information of his books only vaguely. However, we could identify them through those publications, using the names of auctioneers, the date of the auction and Sotheby's lot numbers. Also, we could trace or find them through catalogues of bookshops and libraries, online resources, etc. in some cases. Because of the progress of digitisation, we can even read some of former Satow's books on the internet.

In 2023, the C. V. Starr East Asian Library at UC Berkeley received a notable donation: an archival collection of approximately 26 cartons originally compiled by David. W. Conde (1906-1981). Conde was involved in Allied propaganda efforts during World War II, working in the U. S. Office of War Information’s Psychological Warfare Branch. From October 1945 to July 1946, he also served as Director of the Motion Picture Department within the Civil Information and Education (CIE) Section during the U. S.-led Allied occupation of Japan. This collection includes a wide range of materials: Conde’s manuscripts on Korea from the 1950s, film synopses and scripts, photographs of actors, posters and films submitted by Japanese film companies to the CIE for censorship, as well as propaganda leaflets, internal GHQ reports, and books and periodicals

This keynote lecture explores the case of a “private library” in Kyoto during the 18th and 19th centuries, focusing on the book collection of Kamo no Suetaka, a Shinto priest of the Kamigamo Shrine. Drawing on specific historical materials, the lecture examines the formation, administration, and operation of his collection, known as the Kasendō Bunko.

The latest trends and future prospects of NACSIS-CAT/ILL and the E-resources Data Sharing Services.

Since 1997, Historiographical Institute the University of Tokyo Old Photographs Research Project has been conducting research and preservation activities on collections of old photographs scattered around Japan and abroad whose provenance and transmission are certain and has also been collecting high-resolution digital image data. In some of these cases, the value of old photographs as historical materials has been reaffirmed, and after the survey, they were designated as national important cultural properties. Since 2003, the company has also continued to conduct surveys in cooperation with foreign institutions.

This presentation introduces an archival project that focuses on the dispersed and largely underexplored materials of Frederick W. Gookin (1853–1936), a pioneering American scholar, curator, and promoter of Japanese art in the early 20th century.

Research into the application of generative AI is underway in the humanities as well. The International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken) has been converting the 67,000 pages of the Kojiruien, an encyclopedia of Japanese culture compiled at the beginning of the 20th century, into text data, which it has been releasing sequentially since 2008. As of May 2025, 22,477 pages are available as searchable text data.