Sources of Japanese Tradition (2nd ed.) by 
Japan: A Documentary History by 
Voices of Early Modern Japan: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life During the Age of the Shoguns by 
Murasaki Shikibu: Her Diary and Poetic Memoirs translated by Richard Bowring. Princeton University Press, 1982.
Call Number: PL 788.4 .A23
Tales of Times Now Past: Sixty-two Stories from a Medieval Japanese Collection by 
The Kamakura Bakufu by 
Lust, Commerce, and Corruption by
A distinguished group of scholars has collaborated to produce a highly accessible translation of a remarkable (and long) document written in 1816 by an unidentified Japanese conservative individual, in which almost every change and evolution in Japanese society comes under his sharp criticism. (Choice review).
Labor Contracts and Labor Relations in Early Modern Central Japan (2004). eBook
By: Nagata, Marie Louis. Documents regarding Industrial relations and family-owned business enterprises in Tokugawa era (1600–1868).
They Came to Japan: An Anthology of European Reports, 1543–1640
Michael Cooper (ed.)
Published: 1965
An Account of Japan 1609 by
In 1608, Roderigo de Vivero, soldier and administrator, set out from Acapulco to take up his post as interim Governor of the Philippines. On the way home, his ship was wrecked off the coast of Japan and he lost everything. While in the Philippines, he had been in communication with the Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who now treated him as an honoured guest and informal ambassador. Trade, security for the expanding Christian population, mining technology and the problem of Dutch piracy were all discussed. When Vivero left Japan - in a ship built by the Englishman, Will Adams - he took with him the first Japanese trade delegation to the New World.
Kaempfer's Japan: Tokugawa Culture Observed by
Published in London in 1727, Kaempfer's work remains one of the most valuable sources for historians of the Tokugawa period. The narrative describes what no Japanese was permitted to record (the details of the shogun's castle, for example) and what no Japanese thought worthy of recording (the minutiae of everyday life).
Beating Devils and Burning Their Books: Views of China, Japan and the West by
Beating Devils and Burning Their Books considers several topics germane to today's social and intellectual climate. Is religio-cultural conflict innate in religious belief? Is "difference" necessarily an antecedent of conflict? And on a purely expository level, how have governments, intellectuals, and religious devotees represented Asia or the West, and how did they distort those images in order to present diminutive representations of "the Other"? Following works such as Edward Said's Orientalism and John Dower's War Without Mercy, this important volume seeks to continue needed dialogue regarding how China, Japan, and the West have historically viewed and represented each other. A marvelous collection of insightful analysis on topics ranging from the Chinese picturesque in 19th-century Britain, to the twisted spirituality of Brad Warner'sHardcore Zen, to the representation of missionaries in China as baby-eaters and beasts, Beating Devils and Burning their Books illustrates the tendency to exaggerate radical difference--both positive and negative--that is part of the complex interaction that makes up cultural exchange.
Pacific Encounters in Nineteenth Century Japan
Digital resources from the Library of Congress
The Japanese Expedition (1852–1854): The Personal Journals of Mathew C. Perry (Smithsonian, 1968)
Japan Rising: The Iwakura embassy to the USA and Europe 1871-1873 by 
Imperial Japan, 1800-1945 (2 Volumes of Sources) by 
Modern Japan: A History in Documents by 
Japanese Propaganda: Series 1 Selected Readings from Books (1871–1943) by 
Japanese Propaganda: Series 2 Pamphlets (1891–1939) by 
Wars and Rumours of War, 1918-1945 by 
Japan's Decision for War by Kokutai no Nihongi 国体の本義 (Cardinal Principles of the National Entity of Japan)
Download a copy here.
Japan's Decision for War: Records of the 1941 Policy Conferences
So Lovely a Country Will Never Perish: Wartime Diaries of Japanese Writers by 
Japanese Reflections on World War II and the American Occupation by 
Into the Rising Sun: In their own words, World War II's Pacific Veterans Reveal the Heart of Combat by 
Modern Japanese Diaries: The Japanese at Home and Abroad as Revealed through Their Diaries
Donald Keene
Published: 1995
Visualizing Cultures: Image Driven Scholarship This site was launched at MIT in 2002 to use new technology and rare visual materials to reconstruct the past as people of the time visualized the world (or imagined it to be). Topical units to date focus on Japan in the modern world and early-modern China.
Asia and the West: 19th Century Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange. This database contains 19th Century British Foreign Office and United States consular and diplomatic records from China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. These records reflect day-to-day encounters with the indigenous populations, the expansion of trade, extraterritorial rights, treaty provisions. It also contains a substantial selection of missionary correspondence and journals. Maintained by Gale-Cengage.
Travel Writing, Spectacle, and World History brings together hundreds of accounts produced by women documenting their travels across the globe. Several accounts cover travel in Asia. The materials contained in this database range from the early 19th century to the late 20th century and include unique manuscripts, diaries, correspondence, guidebooks, postcards, sketches and photographs. From Adam Mathews Digital
Empire Online World Empires from 1492-1969. Includes a wealth of primary sources including manuscripts, rare printed materials, letter books, missionary papers, slave papers, travel writing, periodicals, diaries, photographs and more. Supplementing the primary sources are secondary resources such as essays, interactive maps, chronology and an image gallery. Materials in the collections spans five centuries, charting the story of the rise and fall of empires, gathered from a wide range of reputable institutions, with a core from the British Library. Maintained by Adam Matthew Digital.
The American Presidency Project is maintained by political science professors John Woolley and Gerhard Peters and hosted at UC Santa Barbara. This database provides access to numerous documents related to US-Japan relations. You can search for key terms and limit your search to a particular president's era of administration.
Digital version of US Congressional Serial Set contains all the Reports, Documents, and Journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives from 1817 to the present. These documents constitute a rich source of primary source material on all aspects of American history. A print version of the Serial Set would consist of over 12 million pages.
This database consists of basic documents for studying the international relations of Japanese politics mainly after WWII. In addition to these basic documents, this database includes addresses made by Prime Ministers to the Imperial Diet before WWII as well as addresses in and outside of the National Diet after WWII. Also included are addresses made by Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Ministers of Finance, Secretaries of Economic Planning Agency, Japanese representatives to the UN General Assembly, and Summit-related documents. In this database, you can also find many important WWII documents.
The New Cambridge History of Japan
(eBook Collection)
Volume 1: Not Yet Published
Volume 2: Early Modern Japan in Asia and the World, c. 1580–1877
Volume 3: The Modern Japanese Nation and Empire, c.1868 to the 21st Century
The Cambridge History of Japan
(eBook Collection)
Volume 5: The Nineteenth Century
Volume 6: The Twentieth Century
We also have physical copies of these books in the library located on Level 1 at call number: DS 835 .C36 1988
A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present (4th ed) by 
A Concise History of Japan by 
To Stand with the Nations of the World: Japan's Meiji Restoration in World History by 
Japan: A Modern History (17th c. to Present) by 
The Making of Modern Japan (eBook) by 
Early Modern Japan by
This thoughtfully organized survey of Japan's early modern period (1568-1868) is a remarkable blend of political, economic, intellectual, literary, and cultural history. The only truly comprehensive study in English of the Tokugawa period, it also introduces a new ecological perspective, covering natural disasters, resource use, demographics, and river control.
Conrad B. Totman, The Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu 1862–1868 (University of Hawaii Press, 1980).
Marius B. Jansen, Sakamoto Ryōma and the Meiji Restoration (Princeton Univ. Press, 1961).
Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852–1912 by 
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by 
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II by 
The World Turned Upside Down: Medieval Japanese Society by 
The World of the Shining Prince by 
The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: When Total Empire Met Total War by 
Oxford Research Encyclopedia: Asian History by
The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History is overseen by David Ludden of New York University and an editorial board of subject experts, ensuring a comprehensive, encyclopedic map of the field.
Updated monthly, the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History will grow with the field over time. Multi-media features embedded in articles, along with cross-referenced links to related content will further expand the scope of the ORE. With in-depth peer-reviewed articles and broad coverage of the field the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History will become an invaluable resource.
Topaz Museum Website (Delta, Utah)
Collected Literary Magazines of Americans of Japanese Descent
This twenty-three volume set of book reproduces copies of literary magazines created by Japanese incarcerated in relocation centers in various parts of the United States: New York, California, Arizona (Poston & Gila River), and Wyoming (Heart Mountain). it is shelved in the Japanese Section of the Asian Collection on Level 4 of the Harold B. Lee Library. Call Number: PL 889 .U52 N9
National Archives: Japanese American Incarceration During WWII
Includes access to several relevant primary source documents documents and other resources.
Asian American Relocation Centers Database (Gale)
Includes archives of English language newspapers produced in several relocation centers, including the Topaz Times (Utah). Also contains rosters of incarcerated individuals and government reports on the camps.
Densho 伝承: This English language website documents the testimonies of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II. It preserves firsthand accounts, coupled with historical images and teacher resources.
BYU Coverage (1885–present). Many issues have been digitized by Hathi Trust
Komonjo kenkyu 古文書研究 Research on Ancient Documents
BYU Coverage (2001–present).
