The Toshiba Library for Japanese Legal Research, located on the second floor of the Arthur W. Diamond Law Library, houses a total of approximately 26,000 volumes, and maintains one of the most comprehensive Japanese law collections outside of Japan. It holds approximately 14,000 monographic titles, and 421 serial titles including 258 current subscriptions. Of these, about 90% are in Japanese and the rest are mostly in Western languages. The collection is supplemented by Daiichi Hoki's Hojoho Sogo Database [Law Information General Database], D1-Law.com, and LexisNexis Japan, two comprehensive online databases of statutes, indexes, and full-text cases covering the period from the end of the 19th century to the present.
Currently, about 90% of the collection can be searched on Pegasus, the Arthur W. Diamond Law Library’s online catalog. Among the titles in Pegasus, about 40% of the monographs and serials are located in the open stack areas, and the remaining 60% are in storage or in the closed stack area. The records in Pegasus are also included in the international library system, OCLC WorldCat. Back to top
Reference Assistance
The main reference desk answers questions regarding the Japanese law collection (Tel: 212-854-3743). If further assistance is needed, questions may be submitted to the curator by e-mail (toshibalib@law.columbia.edu), by telephone (212-854-4193), or in person at the curator’s office, Room 216C, from 9:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m.
Researchers who wish to come to the Toshiba Library may submit their requests by e-mail (toshibalib@law.columbia.edu) or by telephone (212-854-4193).
The Toshiba Library for Japanese Legal Research At The Arthur W. Diamond Law Library, 2nd floor 435 West 116th Street New York, NY 10027 (corner of 116th St. & Amsterdam Ave.)
** Subway: #1 (red) line to 116th St. (Columbia University) stop **
Resources of the Toshiba Library as well as all other collections of the Arthur W. Diamond Law Library are available to any researchers through the Law Library's Document Delivery Service. Requests may be made by telephone (212-854-7851 or 800-332-4529), fax (212-854-1359) or by e-mail (docdel@law.columbia.edu).
Most monographs in the open stack area of the Toshiba Library can be borrowed from the Interlibrary Loan Department of the Arthur W. Diamond Law Library via the OCLC interlibrary loan system. Depending on the type of material, the Interlibrary Loan Department also provides photo copies. It charges a fee for loans and copies except to SHARES and NELLCO member libraries. Further questions regarding interlibrary loan should be addressed to the borrower’s local library.
In 1982, the Arthur W. Diamond Law Library at Columbia Law School received a private law collection donated by the family of the late Justice Jiro Tanaka, who served as Supreme Court Justice of Japan between 1964 and 1973. Building on this collection, which was considered the finest private law collection in Japan, the Diamond Law Library began the development of a comprehensive Japanese law collection in 1984 to support research and teaching at the Center for Japanese Legal Studies at Columbia Law School. In 1986 and 1987, monographs and serials on Japanese law housed in the C.V. Starr East Asian Library were transferred to the Diamond Law Library, allowing the integration of these materials and the Tanaka Collection. In 1991, the Law Library created a permanent position of Japanese law curator with an endowment from the Toshiba Corporation in Tokyo, and named the collection the Toshiba Library for Japanese Legal Research.
In more recent years, the Toshiba Library received large private collections from a former Supreme Court Justice, Itsuo Sonobe, and from Emeritus Professor Koichi Kikuta of Meiji University, as well as duplicate materials of the Law Faculty at Meiji University. With the support of Nagashima, Ohno & Tsunematsu, the Library acquired approximately 800 volumes of important case reporters, journals and statistical materials. Providing services through Daiichi Hoki's D1-Law.com, the most comprehensive legal database in Japan, is made possible by Linklaters in Tokyo. Numerous publications are donated each year by the Supreme Court of Japan, the Ministry of Justice, other Japanese governmental organizations, research institutes, corporations, and individuals.
When the gift was presented by the family of the late Justice Tanaka, it included over 3,300 monographic titles and 11,000 serial issues. Only a small part of the gift is in the open stack area which comprises the Toshiba Library. The rest, including materials with considerable historical value such as a complete set of Kenpo Chosakai material, Meiji Constitution material edited by Hirobumi Ito, and treatises by Nobushige Hozumi, are housed in a closed stack area in the School of International and Public Affairs building. Most of these materials may be viewed only in the Library.
