Research NavigationFind Japanese Book Reviews

Guide to finding and obtaining book reviews written in Japanese.

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Check Bibliographic Information

Use search tools to confirm the title, author, publisher, and publication date of works you want to obtain reviews for. The publication date is particularly important, since the search methods change depending on it.

• WINE [Waseda University Library Catalog] (Waseda University Library Website)
• CiNii Books [National Institute of Informatics] (public web site)
  An integrated catalog of books and periodicals held at university libraries across the country.
• Webcat Plus [National Institute of Informatics] (public web site)
  Database for the "Associational Search" of similar books, a table of contents, contents information.
• NDL-OPAC [National Diet Library] (public web site)
  A catalog for searching the holdings of the National Diet Library.

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Search in Publications

• Shohyo Nenpo (Jinbun Shakai Shizenhen) (Book Review Yearbook (Humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences))  (book)  
• Shohyo Nenpo (Bungaku Geijutsu Jidohen)(Book Review Yearbook (Literature, arts, and children books))  (book)  
  Collection of book reviews published in major newspapers and dozens of magazines (discontinued since 2000).
• Shuppan Nenkan(Publishing Yearbook) (book) 
  Compilation of one year's worth of newspaper and magazine book review lists found in the Shuppan News magazine starting in 2002 (which contained book reviews published in 2001).

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Search in Magazine Articles

When searching among magazine articles, try including "book review" (書評) and the title and author of target book. Be sure to check the publication date as well.

• CiNii Articles [National Institute of Informatics]   (Library subscription database)  
  After searching once through the National Diet Library (NDL) magazine article citations, you can search research bulletins and other materials created independently by the National Institute of Informatics (NII). Some articles can be read in their entirety.
• MAGAZINEPLUS  [Nichigai Associates]  (Library subscription database)  
  Permits searches of articles included in books. It is also possible to search NDL magazine article citations after 1946.
• Web OYA-bunko [Oya Soichi Library's magazine article Web search service]  (Library subscription database)  
  Useful when searching for book reviews of best sellers and other mass-market books, since the collection focuses on mass-market magazines, such as weekly magazines and lifestyle magazines.
• Shuppan News[published three times a month](magazine)  
  Each issue includes a list of newspaper and magazine book reviews and a full two-page spread book review.

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Search in Newspaper Articles (book review papers)

• Tosho Shimbun (1949-1988) (Book Review Press (1949-1988))  (newspaper)  
• Tosho Shimbun (1989-) (Book Review Press (1989-)) (newspaper)  
  The final edition of each year has a list of articles. Includes a cumulative index as well.
• Shukan Dokushojin (newspaper)  
  Possible to check the contents of each edition with the online version, but it has no search function.

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Search in Newspaper Articles (ordinary papers)

Book review articles sometimes appear in also ordinary newspapers. Some papers have the series of book reviews on a regular schedule.

• See the Find Newspaper Articles section.

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Search on the Internet

The Waseda E-Resource Portal service provides a number of useful tools for book review searches, including book review sites and online bookstores with customer review functions.
Choose "Publisher Info. & Book Reviews" from "Resource type" on the top page of the Waseda E-Resource Portal. The list of useful tools will be shown.

• Waseda E-Resource Portal (Waseda University Library Website)