Popular Culture: Media-ting and Consuming Identities of Japan

Background Sources | Locating Books | Identifying Journal Literature | Primary Sources | Web Resources

Background Sources

Encyclopedias and dictionaries provide background information and can be used to identify key people, events and dates which can then be used as search terms for finding additional information. More importantly, because encyclopedias often cover the major issues surrounding the subect, they can help you narrow your research from a broad “who, what, where, when” topic to a “how or why” question. In addition many encyclopedia articles include short bibliographies that will lead you to the major works on the topic.
  • The anime encyclopedia : a guide to Japanese animation since 1917
         Undergraduate Reference -- NC1766.J3 C53 2001
  • Encyclopedia of contemporary Japanese culture
         Suzzallo Reference -- DS822.5 .E516 2002
  • Encyclopedia of Japanese pop culture
         Undergraduate Reference -- DS822.5 .S3 1997
  • Handbook of Japanese popular culture
         Undergraduate Reserve -- DS822.5 .H347 1989
  • Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan [UW Only]
         Print copy: Undergraduate Reference, East Asia Reference -- DS805 .K633 1988
  • Taishu bunka jiten
         East Asia Reference -- DS821.T24 1991

Locating Books

 Use the following databases to locate books in the UW Libraries and in other libraries around the region, nation and world. Databases marked UW Only require that you access these from computers on campus or from home using UWICK or the libraries proxy server. Books unavailable at the UW can be requested through the UWorld Express.
  • UW Libraries Catalog
    A listing of the books, journal subscriptions and other material available at the University of Washington Libraries.
  • Summit
    Joint catalog of the 26 Oregon and Washington libraries of the Orbis Cascade Alliance. Books can be requested online and sent to the UW.
  • OCLC WorldCat [UW only]
    A listing of books, journal subscriptions and other material available in hundreds of major libraries in the U.S. and abroad.
  • OhioLINK
    Use OhioLink to access chapters of recent books, use the "keywords" search option.

Identifying Journal Literature

 Use indexes/databases to find articles (and sometimes books, dissertations, etc.) on a topic. There are indexes covering all sorts of subjects, use those which best fit your research topic. For a complete list of electronic indexes see Databases & Catalogs on the Information Gateway.
Once you identify articles you need make sure you have the complete citation (author, title, journal name, volume, pages and year), then look in the UW Libraries Catalog for the journal name (do a title search for the journal name to see if the UW subscribes) to see if and where the journal is kept (library location and call number).
Databases marked UW Only require that you access these from computers on campus or from home using UWICK or the libraries proxy server.
Articles from journals which the UW does not own can be requested through UWorld Express.

  • Interdisciplinary Databases
    • Bibliography of Asian Studes [UW only]
      Index to articles and books covering all regions of Asia.
    • Expanded Academic Index [UW Only]
      Interdisciplinary index to articles. Includes some fulltext. For another similar database see Research Library.
    • Japanese Magazineplus [UW only]
      Index to Japanese magazines, journals and ronbunshu. In Japanese.
    • JSTOR [UW only]
      Searchable collection of back issues of selected journals including the Journal of Asian Studies, Monumenta Nipponica and Journal of Japanese Studies. For another collection of searchable electronic journals see Project Muse.
    • Lexis Nexis [UW only]
      Fulltext database of current newspaper articles including English-language Japanese papers such as the Japan Times and Yomiuri.
    • Web of Science [UW only]
      Includes the Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. General index to a wide range of social science and humanities journals.

  • Specialized Databases
    • ABI/Inform [UW only]
      Major index to articles in business and marketing.
    • Anthropology Plus [UW only]
      Major index to articles in anthropology. Also see Sociological Abstracts for articles in sociology.
    • Communication Abstracts [UW only]
      Index to articles and books dealing with media and communication.
    • FIAF [UW only]
      Index to articles in cinema studies.
    • Historical Abstracts [UW only]
      Major index to articles in world history (excluding US and Canada).
    • MLA [UW only]
      Major index to articles and books in literature with some coverage of cinema studies.
    • RILM [UW only]
      Index to articles in music. For other music databases see the Music Library.

Identifying Primary Sources

  • Films
    The UW Libraries owns more than 400 Japanese feature films on VHS and DVD formats. To see a listing of these search the UW Libraries Catalog for the Genre feature films japan. To see a listing of animated films search the UW Libraries Catalog for the Genre animated films japan. A larger selection of animated films is available via the King County Library System.

  • Manga
    The East Asia Library does own some manga. The best way to find these is to search the UW Libraries Catalog under the the following Library of Congress subjects: Comic books, strips, etc. Japan and Caricatures and cartoons Japan. A much larger selection of manga (both in Japanese and translated into English) is available in the King County Library System.

  • Music
    Check with the Music Library to find recordings of Japanese music. The King County Library System does have some J-Pop recordings by artists such as Hikara Utada and Namie Amuro. The East Asia Library recently purchased "Original A.I." (ML3501 .A3 2003)

  • Periodicals/Magazines
    The East Asia Library has the following general interest magazines from Japan.
    • Aera (AP95.J2 A47)
    • Nipponia in English and Japanese (DS .N5661)
    • Kyoto - in English (DS801. K96)

Web Resources

For other web resources on Japan see the list created by the East Asia Library.

Image: Detail Miyazaki's Spirited Away.

Japanese Studies Page | History Subject Page | UW Libraries

8 April 2004
Theresa Mudrock -- Keiko Yokota-Carter