Current Digitization of Official Publications in Japan

The National Diet Library acquires official publications from the national government and municipal governments throughout Japan primarily by means of the legal deposit system. These publications are widely used by legislators during deliberations on national politics as well as for other purposes. They are also sent by the NDL in our international exchange program with foreign institutions in return for their publications.

Japanese government agencies have in recent years increasingly published information in digital format. The following websites provide access to digital publications.

In this service, users may search for and browse digital materials which are collected and archived by the NDL. This database provides digital publications (books, periodicals, articles, etc.) which the NDL acquired and archived from the websites of Japanese ministries and agencies. Major publications such as white papers, which are also distributed as exchange materials, are accessible via this website.

The NDL has conducted a large scale acquisition of websites of public organizations in Japan, including the Japanese government, since 2002. This project archives entire websites, including e-books, e-magazines and e-journals, and users are able to access information previously published by national and municipal organizations. Major publications such as white papers and official bulletins from prefectures were also acquired by WARP and archived in the NDL Digital Collections. Every website of public organizations from which data was acquired is included in WARP.
If what you are looking for is not available in the NDL Digital Collections, please look for it in WARP.

• Bulletins (Prefectures) (in Japanese)

NDL Search allows you to search for materials and digital materials held by the National Diet Library, request them for browsing or copying, and use a variety of other services. You can also search for materials held by libraries in Japan which have their data linked.

Research Navi is a platform for providing information to the general public. It introduces reference materials, websites, databases, information on related organizations, etc. in accordance with specific subjects or material groups.

• White papers
• Budgets and settlement of accounts
• Official statistics
• Japanese laws and regulations
• Judicial precedents
• Official Gazettes
• Information on meetings of the Diet

JapanGov is a portal site which started operation in November 2014. It provides collective information from the publicity materials of ministries and agencies. It also provides basic information about Japan, "We Are Tomodachi" (an official magazine of the government) and other government publications, collections of photos and videos related to Japan, tourist information, etc.

e-Gov is a portal site for general administrative information. It is managed by the Digital Agency.

Users may access data from ministries and agencies in open data format. Various datasets are registered and are free to download.

e-Stat is a portal site for government statistics. Users may access various statistics, including the fundamental statistics produced by government ministries and agencies.