The eLibrary is a membership benefit for members of the Japan Society and employees of our corporate members. To find out how to join the Japan Society please click here.
Can libraries and other academic institutions join the eLibrary?
Yes. Libraries and institutions wishing to subscribe to the Japan Society eLibrary on behalf of their students and members should write to membership@japansociety.org.uk.
I am already a member of the Japan Society - how do I register for the eLibrary.
Registering is easy - just fill in your details here, and your account will be authenticated within one working day.
How do I know whether or not my account has been authenticated?
You will receive an email notification once your account has been authenticated.
I have forgotten my password.
If you have forgotten your password, just click here and follow the instructions to reset it.
I have forgotten my username / what is my username?
Your username is simply the email address you used to subscribe to the eLibrary. If you have forgotten which one you used, write to membership@japansociety.org.uk.
I have logged in but nothing has changed.
When you log into the eLibrary the site will look the same, but you will now be able to access books and chapters in the e-reader.
I can't see the menu.
If you are visiting the site using a mobile device, the left-hand menu may well be collapsed by default. To open it, just click the 'hamburger' icon at the top left-hand corner of the screen:
I'm in the e-reader, but I can't search the text of the book.
Again, if you are using a mobile device, the e-reader menu may be hidden. Just click on the arrow icon to expand it, and then again to close it:
User Guide
From the homepage you can navigate to any of the books in the Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits series using the list in the left-hand column. Once you have selected a book, you can then click 'Read now' to go to the first page of the book, or navigate directly to any of the chapters in that book.
Alternatively, if you know what chapter you are looking for, you can search for it using the responsive search function at the top of the left hand menu:
Once in the ereader reader you can scroll through the pages, zoom in or out, print a chapter, go straight to another chapter within the same book, and use the ereader menu to search the text of that book or the entire Biographical Portraits series:
Other than by book and chapter, there are three main ways in which we have organised the content of the eLibrary: by ‘Subject’, by author, and by ‘Topic’ themes. Subjects is where we have pared down chapter titles to the organisation, individual or event on which the chapter focusses, and Topic is where we have created broader groups of chapters, from 'Acting and actors' and 'Aesthetics' to 'Zoologists'.
For example, if we search for 'Consular' in the left hand menu, we not only get a list of chapters with the term in the title, but also a list of suggested topics. Clicking on any one of these topics would take you to a list of chapters grouped under that topic.
In terms of how we have organised the topics, we have tried to strike a balance between being both specific and general, for example, if we look at topics relating the diplomatic and consular services, going from general to specific, we have International relations, Diplomacy, Diplomats, the British Embassy and Legation, the Japan Consular Service, Ambassadors, and so on.
If you go to 'View full search results', then you get the same list of chapters and topics, but also a list of every page from within the entire Biographical Portraits series on which your search term appears. For example, if we search for the words consular and Yokohama, the results are dominated by chapters on judges, lawyers and consular staff.
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