Search/Browse Help - Searching in Japanese

About Searching in Japanese

Records in the LC Catalog use the Unicode standard for MARC 21 for search and display. This ISO standard is based on Unicode opens in a new window (UTF-8 encoding). Japanese records in the LC Catalog may contain a mix of CJK (Chinese-Japanese-Korean) characters and transliterated data or transliterated data only. Library of Congress transliteration follows the ALA-LC Romanization Tables.

There are two ways to search for records in Japanese:

• Using romanized terms (which may be faster and more efficient)
• Using Japanese characters. You may want to search first with Japanese characters if you are unsure of the proper romanization of a name or title.

Search results displayed in Titles Lists contain only Latin characters in the brief entries for each item. Titles Lists are ordered by relevancy or sorted by transliterated author/creator and title metadata. If records contain both transliterated data and Japanese characters, both will be displayed in the full record.

Tips for Searching in Japanese

• Japanese characters can be searched in names, titles, series, notes, and many subjects. All topical subject headings, however, use English-language terms.
• Wildcards may be especially helpful if you are unsure of the correct MARC 21 Unicode values. Use a percent sign (%) as a single character wildcard and a question mark (?) for truncation or to substitute for multiple characters.
• Most marks of punctuation in your search query are converted to spaces. Some punctuation and diacritic marks are removed: apostrophes, alifs, ayns, middle dots, primes and double primes. A few special characters, however, are retained in searches: ampersands (&), plus signs (+), at signs (@), number signs (#), and musical flat (♭) and natural (♮) signs (musical sharps are converted to spaces). Special characters are generally converted to their nearest alphabetic equivalent (for example: an æ diagraph to ae or a þ thorn to th).
• Japanese characters in LC Catalog records must use the ideographs found in the Unicode standard for MARC 21. If your search returns fewer results than you expect, please consult the CJK Compatibility Database to help you identify the appropriate MARC 21 Unicode equivalents for non-MARC 21 CJK Unicode characters. If no MARC 21 equivalent exists for the character you need, use a single or multiple-character wildcard or the "missing character" symbol (〓) in your query.
• In Headings Browse Lists, non-Latin headings with Japanese characters are sorted by Unicode code point values opens in a new window.

Searching Japanese in Transliteration

The Library of Congress follows the modified Hepburn system employed in Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary (3rd and later editions) as reference for Japanese romanization rules. For more details, see the Japanese ALA Romanization Tables at: https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/japanese.pdf.

Please follow these rules when entering your search:

• Type phrase by phrase in romanized Japanese; the search then appears in Hirigana.
• Ignore long vowels:
  • Enter Osaka instead of Ōsaka for 大阪
  • Enter Oe Kanzaburo instead of Ōe Kanzaburo for 大江健三郎
• In syllabic nasals, use n instead of m preceding b, m, or p:
  • Enter shinbun instead of shimbun for 新聞
  • Enter shinmai instead of shimmai for 新米
  • Enter ranpu instead of rampu for ランプ
• Make sure you use all double consonants in searches:
  • Enter kokkai for 国会
  • Enter jittai for 実態
• Use t before chi (チ), cha (チャ), chu (チュ), and cho (チョ):
  • Enter itchi for 一致
  • Enter hatchu for 発注

Pay special attention to word division rules when searching by romanized script:

• Divide binary compounds following the romanization rules:
  • EnterNihon shakai for 日本社会
  • Enter Meiji Daigaku for 明治大学
• Divide trinary and derived compounds following the romanization rules:
  • Enter Shakaiteki for 社会的
  • Enter Kyutaisei for 旧体制
• Divide words and particles such as no (の), ga (が), wa (は), e (へ), and to (と) following the romanization rules:
  • Enter Nihon kokka no tanjo to rekishi for 日本国家の誕生と歴史
  • Enter Kofuku e no michi for 幸福への道
• Divide family and first names:
  • Enter Kawabata Yasunari for 川端康成
  • Enter Mishima Yukio for 三島由紀夫

Searching Japanese Characters

To enter Japanese characters, set the input method editor (IME) on your device to Hirigana.

Enter search words without any divisions as well as words with divisions following the romanization rules. Searching by romanization may be faster and more efficient:

• Search trinary and derived compounds as a single unit, and divide the compounds following the romanization rules:
  • Nihon shakai = 日本社会 and 日本_社会
  • Meiji Daigaku = 明治大学 and 明治_大学
• Search binary compounds as a single unit, and divide the compounds following the romanization rules:
  • Shakaiteki = 社会的 and 社会_的
  • Kyutaisei = 旧体制 and 旧_体制
• Search words and particles (such as "no" の, "ga" が, "wa" は, "e" へ and "to" と) together, and divide the words and particles following the romanization rules:
  • Nihon kokka no tanjo to rekishi = 日本国家の誕生と歴史 and 日本_国家_の_誕生_と_歴史
  • Kofuku e no michi = 幸福への道 and 幸福_へ_の_道
• Search family and first names together, and divide family and first names:
  • Kawabata Yasunari = 川端康成 and 川端_康成
  • Mishima Yukio = 三島由紀夫 and 三島_由紀夫

CJK Compatibility Database

When searching for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean ideographs, you must use characters found in the MARC 21 Unicode standard. Searching non-MARC 21 Unicode characters in the LC Catalog will not return results.

To help you quickly determine MARC 21 equivalents for non-MARC CJK characters, the Library maintains a CJK Compatibility Database of more than 450 non-MARC 21 CJK characters matched with their MARC 21 equivalents. You can search this database by character or browse all entries.