LibGuides: Japanese Studies: Pop Culture

Header image: Edited version of 神奈川沖浪裏 | Kanagawa-oki nami ura by Katsushika Hokusai

Welcome!

This page offers research help for students in the Japanese Pop Culture class. You will find easy links to resources we discussed in the instruction session, search tip reminders, additional databases, starting book suggestions, and contact information for the Arts & Humanities librarian for those looking for a one-on-one appointment. Please don't hesitate to reach out to the library with any questions!

Quick Tips for New Students
A PDF handout which reviews the basics of where to search, how to search, and how to get research help from the library.

Discover @ UMSL

Discover@UMSL is the library's main search tool for books, journal articles, and more. Results will include materials owned at UMSL (including both print and e-books) as well as scholarly articles, newspaper articles, primary sources, etc. from many of our online databases.

We recommend starting your research here. Then, follow up by also searching in library databases. Discover@UMSL does not pull in materials from every relevant database. Visit our Guide to Discover@UMSL for tips on using this search tool!

Book Reminders

You can use Discover@UMSL and databases like JSTOR (see link below) to search for books and individual book chapters. You don't have to read the entire book for it to be a useful source - browse the Table of Contents first.
Expand your search to MOBIUS to see materials from other libraries. These books are free to request! You can place a general interlibrary loan request for print books at libraries outside MOBIUS.
Visit the front desk if you get stuck locating a print item on the shelf.

Databases & Websites

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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JSTOR contains articles and books, usually at least 3-5 years old, from scholarly sources. For more recent material, use Discover@UMSL or another individual databases.
** In response to the COVID pandemic JSTOR granted free access to an extended list of journals until June 30, 2023. **
UMSL has access to the following JSTOR Collections:
- Arts & Sciences I (economics, history, political science, sociology, ecology, mathematics, and statistics)
- Arts & Sciences II (additional journals for many of the disciplines in Arts & Sciences I, plus journals in several additional disciplines: archaeology, classics, and African, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and Slavic studies)
- Arts & Sciences III i(languages and literature, music, film studies, folklore, performing arts, religion, feminist & women's studies, and the history & study of art and architecture)
- Arts & Sciences IV (business, education, and law, psychology, public policy and administration)
- Health & General Sciences (historical scientific journals, health sciences)
- Books at JSTOR (50,000+ titles)
- Early Journal Content (journals published in the United States before 1923 and published in other countries before 1870)
Researchers and students may also be interested in JSTOR's Data for Research beta site, a free, self-service tool that allows computer scientists, digital humanists, and other researchers to select and interact with JSTOR content. The Data for Research site contains a set of web-based tools, including:
- a powerful faceted search interface that can be leveraged to define content of interest through an iterative process of searching and results filtering
- word frequencies, citations, key terms, and ngrams utilized for conducting analysis of document-level data
- topic modeling (classification of subject headings at the article level), a powerful tool for content selection and filtering
- downloadable datasets containing word frequencies, citations, key terms, or ngrams associated with the content selected
- visualization tools
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Academic Search Complete is a scholarly, multidisciplinary full-text database, with several thousand full-text periodicals, most of which are peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for many more journals, monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887, with the majority of full-text titles in native (searchable) PDF format.

This resource is partially funded by MOREnet, the Missouri Research and Education Network.
SSRN This link opens in a new window
SSRN is an open-access online preprint community providing valuable services to leading academic schools and government institutions. Specializing primarily in social sciences, including economics, law, corporate governance, and humanities, SSRN is branching out into other science disciplines. Most, but not all papers are free.
National Diet Library Digital Collections (Japan) This link opens in a new window
The NDL Digital Collections enables a user to search and view a variety of resources, collected and stored by the National Diet Library of Japan.
* Ensure "Available Online" is checked. Some elements have been translated into English; most are in Japanese. *
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
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Project MUSE's Standard Collection provides full-text access to scholarly journal titles, primarily in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
You can look for material in two ways: "Search" to find a particular topic. By default only available content is shown. "Browse" to peruse all book and journal titles and tables of contents abstracted in MUSE. You can also uncheck the option "Only content I have full access to" when viewing your results to find abstracts of additional material.
If an item is not available through Project MUSE, it may be available in other UMSL collections or through Interlibrary Loan. Click the "Find Full-Text" link to check if the Libraries own a journal full text through another source (online or print). If the item is a book, check the UMSL Library Catalog under the book title or book author.
Communication and Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window
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Communication & Mass Media Complete provides quality research in areas related to communication and mass media.
This database originated with the acquisition and subsequent merging of two popular databases in the fields of communication and mass media studies -- CommSearch (formerly produced by the National Communication Association (NCA)), and Mass Media Articles Index (formerly produced by Pennsylvania State University).

Japanese Studies

Local Resources

East Asian Library

St. Louis County Library

Librarian

Welcome!

Discover @ UMSL

Discover @ UMSL

Book Reminders

A History of Popular Culture in Japan

Japanese Media Cultures in Japan and Abroad

Diva Nation

Cuteness Engineering

What Is Japanese Cinema?

Anime

The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature

Women's Manga in Asia and Beyond

The Anime Encyclopedia

Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture

Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams

Databases & Websites