A Guide to Studying Japanese Politics and Japanese Political History from Outside Japan

The study of Japanese politics and political history has undergone a profound transformation over the past 30 years. Four changes of government in that time have shown that the dynamism of politics impacts research as well. Collaboration on qualitative and quantitative methods has progressed, and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, digitization of historical documents is rapidly advancing.
In this lecture, Professor, Dr. Shimizu discusses practical approaches to reading and researching Japanese politics and political history from outside Japan. We hope it provides you with good ideas on how to proceed with your research as well as some insight into current issues and future prospects.
The content of this video is based on a webinar "Information Sources for Japanese studies (in FY2024)" that was given on February 2025, by Dr. Yuichiro Shimizu professor at Keio University.

• A Guide to Studying Japanese Politics and Japanese Political History from Outside Japan (YouTube)

• Webinar: Information Sources for Japanese studies (in FY2024)
• Handout (PDF: 7.9MB) (in Japanese)
• References (PDF: 556KB) (in Japanese)
• researchmap
• e-Gov
• Research Navi
• Full-text Database System for the Minutes of the Diet (in Japanese)
• Database System for the Minutes of the Imperial Diet (in Japanese)
• National Archives of Japan Digital Archive
• Japan Center for Asian Historical Records
• NDL Digital Collections
• NDL Lab
• Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room (Research Navi) (in Japanese)
• Japan Search
• Grant/Scholarship Information Navi (in Japanese)
• Japan Special libraries Association (in Japanese)

November 2025