Japan

Books & Videos: ACC Library Web page > Finding Books

This research guide was originally designed for ACC's international studies trips to Japan.

To find books and multimedia items on Japan at the ACC Library, use the online catalog. Searching the online catalog with the term “Japan” and limiting the Fields to Search to Subject still results in over 300 books! Try a more specific search, such as:

Japan guidebooks	Japan history	Japan foreign relations	Animated films and Japan
Haiku	Hiroshima	Japan and art	Martial arts
Anime	Zen Buddhism	Japan civilization	World War, 1939-1945
Kabuki	Performing arts and Japan	Japanese poetry

- To find travel guides, use the phrases “Japan guidebooks”

- The Library of Congress call number for Asia is DS. Many Japan books are found in that area in both reference and circulating books on the upper floor.

- Remember truncation: using a wildcard ending (an asterisk, in most databases) in a search term to find variant endings: Japan* for instance will find books with the term Japan as well as Japanese. A typical book search might be: Japan* and poet*

- Community members may borrow circulating books by obtaining community borrowing cards at the ACC Library. Call 743-2260 for details.

For students enrolled in the Japan trip/class: Your professor may put additional books on reserve at the circulation desk.

Reference books: Main floor

Here are some reference books to help you start your research about Japan:

Japan Encyclopedia	REFERENCE. DS 821 .F73 2002
World Almanac	REFERENCE AY 67.N5 W7 (annual)
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures & Daily Life	REFERENCE GN 333 .W67 1998
Statesman's Yearbook (country information)	REFERENCE JA 51 .S7 (annual)

You may also want to consult the ACC Library’s research guides (under ACC Library > Research Guides and Tutorials) on other subjects such as art, philosophy, music, anthropology and archaeology, and many more.

You may borrow this book on learning Japanese:
Jimi's book of Japanese: a motivating method to learn Japanese Circulating Collection PL 551 .T35 2005

The ACC Library also has this series of CDs from the Pimsleur language program, with 16 complete 30-minute lessons:
Japanese (call number: AudioBook PL535.7 .P643 2002) You can borrow each of the four CD sets for 2 weeks.

Japan Travel books:

These are circulating books and may be borrowed:

Loney Planet: Japan (DS 205.2 .J259 2003)

Eyewitness Travel Guides: Japan (DS 805.2 .J262 2003)

The rough guide to Japan (DS 805.2 .R68)

The National Geographic traveler: Japan (DS 805.2 . B67 2000)

Books on Japan and business:

Morrison, Terri. Kiss, bow, or shake hands : the bestselling guide to doing business in more than 60 countries
(HF 5389 .M67 2006)

Diamond, Jared M. Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed (HN13 .D5 2005)

Deane, Marjorie. The central banks (HG1811 .D423 1994)

Johnson, Chalmers A. Japan, who governs? : the rise of the developmental state (HC462.9 .J63 1995)

Levine, David I., Reinventing the workplace : how business and employees can both win (HD5650 .L437 1995)

Sai, Yasutaka, The eight core values of the Japanese businessman : toward an understanding of Japanese manageme
(HD 70.J3 S155 1995)

Yang, Xiaohua. Globalization of the automobile industry : the United States, Japan, and the People's Republic of China
(HD 9710.A2 Y36 1995)

Durlabhji, Subhash, Japanese business : cultural perspectives (HD 70.J3 J393 1993)

Gale Virtual Reference Library:

Search this database to get full-text chapters from 250 reference books. (The ACC Library owns many of these reference books in printed format also.) Among the books it searches are: Countries and their Cultures, Geo-Data: the World Geographical Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Encyclopedia of World Biography, World Education Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy, Europe: 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World, and more.

Go to: ACC Library Web page > Finding Books > Reference > Gale Virtual Reference Library. Note: This is a subscription database. Access from off-campus is limited to ACC students, faculty and staff.

NetLibrary:

The ACC Library subscribes to a database of full-text electronic books, NetLibrary. It has dozens of potentially useful books on Switzerland subjects. Chapters can be read on the screen. To use it, go to: ACC Library Web page > Finding Books > NetLibrary. Note: This is a subscription database. Off-campus access is limited to ACC students, faculty and staff.

Videos & DVDs:

Videos and DVDs may be borrowed by faculty members. Students and community members may watch them in the library.

-Japan: the land & its people customs & manners (Video GT1560 .J36 1989)
The Japanese tea ceremony (30 min.) Call Number: Video GT2910 .J3 1989
- The Genji Scrolls reborn (60 min.)   DVD ND1059.6 .G4 2000 (on restoration and reproduction of the
picture scrolls of novel The Tale of Genji.)
- Four families (59 min.) : Call Number    DVD HQ768 .F68 1959 (Anthropologist Margaret Mead compares child rearing
practices in India, France, Japan, and Canada.)
- Theater in Japan (Video PN2924 .T524 1989)
- Beauty of haiku poetry   (Video PL729 .B43 2000)
- Butoh piercing the mask ( Video GV1783.2.B87 B88 1991)
- The tradition of performing arts in Japan the heart of Kabuki, Noh and Bunraku (Video PN2924 .T72 1989)
- The Color of honor the Japanese American soldier in WWII ( Video D753.8 .C65 1988)
- Daimyo   (Video DS871.5.D34 1988 )
- Isamu Noguchi  (Video NB237.N6 I82 1980)
- Rashomon (Video PN1995.9 .R37 1989) by Akira Kurosawa.

Articles and Article Databases:

The ACC Library subscribes to 400 journals, located in the Periodicals area on the main floor of the library. Among them are:

- General travel: Conde Nast Travel, National Geographic Traveler, International Railway Traveler, International Travel News, Travel Holiday.

- History: History, History Today, Journal of Modern History, Journal of the History of Ideas.

Article databases:

Use our subscription article databases to locate articles. Which you use depend on your topic. Consult a librarian for recommendations. To reach the online databases, go to:
ACC Library’s Web page > Finding Articles > General or Subject Databases.

To search these databases from home, follow screen directions to log in. For most topics, start with General Databases such as EBSCO's Academic Search Premier or the New York Times (articles from 1851 to today).

Under Subject databases, try databases such as AnthroSource or ArtStor.

Japan Web sites:

Save time and effort by starting with these useful sites:

Portals to the World: Japan http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/asian/japan/japan.html
Annotated links to selected Web sites about Japan, by Library of Congress: economy, business, culture, geography, law, language, literature, religions, more.

Country Studies: Japan http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/jptoc.html
Country research about Japan from Library of Congress.

The World Factbook: Japan https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html
Country facts, maps, statistics, history of countries around the world, updated each year. From the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Lonely Planet’s Japan guide: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/asia/japan
From the travel guide publisher.

Japan Society http://www.japansociety.org/
Japan Society is "nonprofit, nonpolitical institution offering programs in the arts, business, education and public affairs," promoting Japan-U.S. understanding. Based in New York City.

Kyoto City Web http://www.city.kyoto.jp/koho/eng/ Links to information on the city of Kyoto.

The Noguchi Museum http://www.noguchi.org/
Long Island museum with works in stone, metal, wood, and clay works by artist Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988); offers 13 galleries and sculpture garden.

Librarians’ Internet Index http://lii.org This subject directory lists thousands of high-quality Web sites. Search by the term Japan or a related term to find country guides, travel information, history, and much more. LII lists more than 130 sites on Japan and its history and culture.

Asian Historical Architecture http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/ Contains thousands of photographs of historical Asian architecture, browsable by country and city.

Asian Studies Network Information Center http://asnic.utexas.edu/ About specific countries in Asia and studying abroad. From the Department of Asian Studies, University of Texas at Austin.

Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVL-AsianStudies.html A directory of thousands of websites on Asian Studies.

AsiaSource http://www.asiasource.org/ On cultural, economic, social, historical, and politics of Asia: news, events, food, maps, statistics, holidays, more; links to many Web sites. From the Asia Society.

AskAsia http://www.askasia.org/ A resource site for K-12 Asian and Asian-American studies programs: lesson plans, maps, timelines, articles, origami lesson, more. Sponsored by the Asia Society.

Language and Literature: Asia http://connexion.oclc.org/WebZ/XPathfinderQuery?sessionid=0:term=6902:xid=LCP "This pathfinder includes information about language and literature in Asia." Includes links to sites with romanization tables, linguistic information, and language-learning and dictionary resources. From the Library of Congress.

Other useful travel Web sites:

Mango Languages: http://www.mangolanguages.com/
Free online self-paced language lessons with sound. Teaches Spanish, French, Greek, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Russian, more. Registration required (free).

Word2 Word Language Courses http://www.word2word.com/course.html
Choose the Free Online Language Courses option, then click “Japanese” to see several courses to choose from. Some require registration. Learn pronunciation, common phrases, more.

Insure My Trip http://www.insuremytrip.com/: Travel insurance comparison site.

Bureau of Consular Affairs http://travel.state.gov/ From U.S. State Dept., passport & visa services, embassies, etc. Click Consular Information Sheets and choose Japan.