Japanese Studies in English: A Research Guide: Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Handbooks

6 volumes. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988-1999. (Available in Cambridge Histories Online and Cambridge Core).
Online.
Print version: Kroch Asia Stacks DS 835 .C17
v. 1. Ancient Japan / edited by Delmer M. Brown
v. 2. Heian Japan / edited by Donald H. Shively and William H. McCullough
v. 3. Medieval Japan / edited by Kozo Yamamura
v. 4. Early modern Japan / edited by John Whitney Hall
v. 5. The nineteenth century / edited by Marius B. Jansen
v. 6. The twentieth century / edited by Peter Duus.

Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.
A handy and basic guide to Japanese history that is organized alphabetically and includes romaji and Japanese characters and recommended reading for most entries. The appendices list era names, emperors, population statistics, political party information, Japanese cabinets, and a helpful glossary.

2 volumes. New York: Columbia University Press, 1984-1998.
A history of modern Japanese literature. Volume 1 covers fiction [novels, short stories]. Volume 2 covers poetry, drama, and literary criticism.

Economist Intelligence Unit. Monthly updates.
(Online only).
Analysis of current political, policy and economic trends with an 18 month outlook. Quarterly and annual statistics with at least 150 data points picked from reliable sources and reviewed by EIU analysts to provide consistent, objective. and impartial coverage. Equivalent coverage across over 195 countries worldwide. Select Japan from the list.

4 volumes. New York: Scribner, 1988.
Volume 2 includes a discussion of Japan with a map.

New York: Routledge, 2001.
Covers Japanese culture from the end of the Japanese Imperialist period in 1945 up to 2000. Entries include shorter definitions, histories, and biographies and longer overview essays.

New York: Facts on File, 1991.
An introduction to the history and culture of Japan. An alphabetical listing of major categories, cross references, and a bibliography at the end, with index.

New York: Greenwood Press, 1989.
Signed essays on major topics in popular culture as of the late 1980s with bibliographies.

5th edition. Washington: Library of Congress, Federal Research Division, 1994.
Online.
Written by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, this online guide includes a profile of Japan and has chapters on history, society, environment, education, the arts, the character and structure of the economy, international economic relations, the political system, foreign relations, national security, and a lengthy bibliography for each chapter.
For more recent information on politics and the economy of Japan, see EIU Country Reports, above.

Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2002.
Translated from the French into English by Käthe Roth. Alphabetical listing, includes a bibliography for each subject and an index.

New York: R. R. Bowker, 1982.

9 volumes. New York: Kodansha, 1983-1986.
"The first comprehensive encyclopedia" about Japan in English. Over 9,000 short entries are contained in the eight-volume encyclopedia, supplemented by a one-volume index. Coverage includes philosophy, history, science, politics, economics, literature and the arts, food and clothing from both a historical and a contemporary perspective. Bibliographies are appended to most of the longer articles. Illustrated with black and white photos, charts, and maps. This was the single most useful print source on Japan for the non-Japanese reader when it was published, and is yet to be replaced with a comparably comprehensive source, although some of the articles (and especially bibliographies) are now somewhat dated.

Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999. 2nd edition.
"The MIT Encyclopedia of the Japanese Economy, which covers all major aspects of Japan's post-war economy, is the most comprehensive English-language encyclopedia currently available. Some 180 topical essays covering banks, financial systems, major industries, corporate groups, management practices, labor unions, international trade and investments, government economic policies, and a host of other important topics are included along with some two hundred short definitional entries giving translations and cross-references for important Japanese economic terms. The overall result is a useful reference for all students and scholars of the Japanese economy.""-- From a review by Declan Hayes. Full review.

New York: Scribner, 2001.
Essays on the major 20th-century Japanese writers. Part of the reliable Scribners Writers series. Bibliographies of works by and about the authors.

New York: Oxford UP, 2014.
Online.
Print version: Kroch Asia Stacks Oversize PN 1993.5 .J3 O97 2014 +
"[A]ddresses productive debates about what Japanese cinema is, where Japanese cinema is, as well as what and where Japanese cinema studies is, at the so-called period of crisis of national boundary under globalization and the so-called period of crisis of cinema under digitalization." [Introduction]

Oxford: Oxford University, 2016- .
Online only.
Has numerous articles on Japan.

New York: Kodansha International, 1988.
Includes 30 modern works and lists translations.

Los Angeles: Sage, 2015.
Online.
Print version: Kroch Asia Stacks Oversize DS 806 .S24 2015 +
"Japanese studies ... is informed by and has an impact on the range of disciplines, particularly in the social sciences. This Handbook is intended to serve as a major reference work and a seminal text, both rigorous and accessible, in assisting students and scholars in understanding one of the major nations of the world." [Introduction]

Tokyo: Japan Times, 1986.
About 200 words and phrases arranged in alphabetical order. Entries include meaning, related expressions, sample sentences, and grammatical notes.

Tokyo: Nichigai Associates, 1989.

New York: Weatherhill, 1972.
A guide to reading names in Japanese characters. 3,600 characters with readings in part one and 5,000 readings of personal and family names in part two.

Tokyo: Kenkyusha, 1992.
Designed for students of modern Japanese. Japanese words are listed by romanized word (romaji), followed by the meaning and usage.