''Nihon Kingendaishi Jiten'' (日本近現代史辞典, "Dictionary of Modern and Present Japanese History") is a

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologie ...

of contemporary

Japanese history The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inventi ...

published in 1978, as the revision of Nihon Kindaishi Jiten (日本近代史辞典, "Dictionary of Japanese Modern History") of 1958. Both editions were published by Tôyô Keizai Shinpôsha (東洋経済新報社) and were edited by a committee organized by the Faculty of Letters at

Kyoto University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 billion USD) , faculty = 3,480 (Teaching Staff) , administrative_staff = 3,978 (Total Staff) , students = ...

. The new edition: ''Nihon Kingendaishi Jiten'' has an extensive coverage of Japanese history from 1848 to 1975, with a particular focus on contemporary Japanese history. Definitions of (近代 "modern") and (現代 "present") are complicated in Japanese history. While generally begins in 1853 with Commodore Perry's first visit to Japan, it can also refer to a period beginning with the advent of

Meiji Period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

in 1868. The end of is generally agreed with the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

in 1945. (現代 "present") follows , referring to the postwar period from 1945 to present. From popular culture to major historical events, ''Nihon Kingendaishi Jiten'' is notable for its extensive coverage of topics. Its appendix chart is extremely detailed in providing historical data since the Meiji period. ''Nihon Kingendaishi Jiten'', as of 2006, is considered out of date, covering only the first 30 years of the postwar period, which has now extended to 60 years. For a more comprehensive coverage of the postwar period, (戦後史大事典 "Encyclopedia of Postwar Japan") covers Japanese history from 1945 to 1990. The encyclopedia was published by Sanseido in 1991.

Structure

Entries

Fields covered in the dictionary are politics, foreign affairs, military, economy, culture, society, and education. Within the fields covered, a total number of 3850 articles are written on organizations, systems, laws, events, social phenomena, and individuals. Articles are titled and written in contemporary Japanese syllabic writing. Cross-references to articles, and basic

bibliographical Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

references are provided at the end of each article.

Appendix

One third of the dictionary (about 300 pages) is dedicated to the

appendix Appendix, or its plural form appendices, may refer to: __NOTOC__ In documents * Addendum, an addition made to a document by its author after its initial printing or publication * Bibliography, a systematic list of books and other works * Index (pub ...

, which includes 55 tables and charts of supplementary information for the articles. Some of the major topics covered in the appendix include: a comprehensive chart of

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

members, a list of diplomatic members from countries outside Japan, a list of mayors from the major prefectures, and the names of those who occupied prominent positions within the

General Headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

Index

A total number of 12,000 items are listed in the index at the end of the dictionary. In addition to the title of each article, relevant keywords and phrases within the articles are also included in the index.

References

Tôyô Keizai Shinpôsha
{{Dictionaries of Japanese Japanese dictionaries History books about Japan