Japanese Studies

The library of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin has been collecting literature on Japanese Studies since 1880. Despite large losses during the war, the library can thus offer literature on a variety of fields and subjects-1 as well as from different periods. Among those are: Literature, Linguistics, Language Acquisition, History, Regional Studies, Culture, Politics, and Economy.

One of the core tasks is to provide literature for the teaching and research in the field of Japanese Studies, including materials for language learning. Due to varying main fields of Japanese Studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the focus of the library has shifted over time as well. A recent major field of collection has been Premodern Japanese Cultural and Spiritual History. There are comprehensive special collections on Custom, Japanese Etiquette, and Cinematic History, as well as on the life and work of the Japanese writer Mori Ôgai. The holdings contain works both in Japanese and in Western languages.