Tokyo library displays Donald Keene’s donated literature collection
The Chuo Library in Tokyo‘s Kita Ward has made available to the public the extensive collection of books donated by noted Japanese translator and academic Donald Keene. A special section has been...
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Japanese public library opens with a Starbucks inside
Book lovers and caffeine addicts will be in heaven at the newly opened municipal library in Takeo, Saga Prefecture. Along with browsing through the 200,000 titles, bookworms can also indulge in their...
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Book cafes giving hectic Japanese life a change of pace
At the Beco Café – nestled quietly in an off-traffic route near Nishi-Ogikubo Station in Suginami Ward, Tokyo – a typical Tokyo urbanite is introduced to quieter, slower pace of the city life. There,...
View ArticlePanel looks into Japanese libraries offering e-book lending
A study panel has been convened to look into a joint project between public and private sectors that aims to distribute electronic books, or e-books, to public libraries all over Japan. The aim is to...
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New Tokyo manga park offers 30,000 titles for only ¥400 per day
It’s not just another book café – while we love those too – but Tachikawa City’s Manga Park in western Tokyo is probably heaven here on earth for any self-respecting lover of Japan’s renowned comic...
View ArticleAnti-war manga ‘Barefoot Gen’ removed from school libraries
The Matsue Municipal Education Committee has decided to pull Hadashi no Gen, or “Barefoot Gen,” off the city’s primary school libraries. The famous manga depicts how atomic bomb survivors faced the...
View ArticleEducation board questioned over request to ban anti-war manga ‘Barefoot Gen’
Experts are calling into question the decision by the Matsue Municipal Education Committee to forbid children from borrowing the anti-war manga Hadashi no Gen, or “Barefoot Gen”, by Keiji Nakazawa,...
View ArticleSchool board backs down on restricting anti-war manga ‘Barefoot Gen’
Due to the furor created over the planned restriction of the anti-war manga “Barefoot Gen”, the Matsue Board of Education backed down on the issue by scrapping the move. The criticism was that curbing...
View ArticleJapan’s public libraries add services to get more people reading
A recent survey by a leading newspaper showed that 65% of respondents say they have not been to a public library in the past year, either because they have no time (36%) or there are no libraries near...
View ArticleAuthorities baffled as hundreds of Anne Frank books defaced in Tokyo
It sounds like a case right out of a mystery novel, but this one has no real clues just yet. Officials of the Japan Library Association said that around 250 copies of “The Diary of a Young Girl” by...
View ArticleMore ‘Anne Frank’ books found damaged, total now near 300 copies defaced
Last week we covered an issue that has “creepy and mysterious” written all over it – the Japan Library Association reported that since January last year, they have been finding copies of the...
View ArticleTokyo Library receives Anne Frank books from anonymous donor after widespread...
Some people have come forward to help replace the copies of Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl” which were found destroyed, mysteriously, in several libraries across Tokyo. More than 300 copies of...
View ArticleDocuments handwritten by Einstein on his visit to Japan donated to Keio...
Keio University Library in Tokyo unveiled on Monday fourteen items that were donated to them, including several handwritten letters by world-renowned physicist Albert Einstein. The documents were...
View ArticleTokyo libraries receive donations from Anne Frank House after hundreds of...
Following the vandalism of hundreds of copies of Anne Frank’s diary in many Tokyo libraries, the Anne Frank House donated 3,400 copies of its catalogue to the said libraries. The Anne Frank House is a...
View ArticleMan caught putting up posters hints at involvement in Anne Frank vandalism case
A man caught illegally putting up posters in a bookstore in Tokyo has been arrested after police found out he didn’t have a permit to do so. Since it was the same bookstore where a previous case of...
View ArticleUnemployed man in police custody admits to destroying Anne Frank books
An unemployed man, arrested for illegal entry into a bookstore in Tokyo, has admitted to destroying books about Holocaust victim Anne Frank in various Tokyo public libraries. Police took into custody...
View ArticleFukuoka City preserves 500 Asian films from the past 20 years
Taking the initiative to save films from deterioration over time, the city of Fukuoka now possess a collection of 500 films by different Asian directors from the past 20 years. The southwestern city is...
View ArticlePM Abe to visit Anne Frank museum while in Amsterdam after destruction of...
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to have a full schedule on his Amsterdam trip next week. The premier is visiting the country for a nuclear security summit followed by a Group of Seven...
View ArticleA-bomb manga ‘Barefoot Gen’ removed from Osaka school libraries
The famous manga series “Barefoot Gen” (Hadashi no Gen) has been pulled off the shelves of 13 primary and junior high schools in Izumisano, Osaka at the instruction of Mayor Hiroyasu Chiymatsu through...
View ArticleJapanese IT firm NTT Data to work on Vatican library’s digitization project
Japanese IT group NTT Data is set to work on a project by the Vatican library to digitize more than 1.5 million pages from its collection of manuscripts. The project, which began on March 20, will scan...
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