Preservation and Public Access to the Ex-Colony-related Materials in Cultural Institutions

Abstract

In Japan's past history, colonial rule was exercised over many neighbouring Asian countries, including the Korean Peninsula, China, the Philippines, and Southeast Asian countries, as well as military invasions of Asian countries during World War II. It is important to preserve and open to the public the various documents from these periods so that many researchers and citizens can obtain information to prevent similar mistakes from happening again in the future. Furthermore, it is an important role of cultural institutions such as libraries, archives, art galleries, and museums to preserve and open to the public the various materials of their times. The digitization and open access of various materials has been progressing in recent years in Japan. The materials from the Korean Governor-General's Office, the Taiwan Governor-General's Office, and the Manchukuo State which were the governing institutions during Japan's colonial period in the past have been digitized and made available to the public. In this paper, the authors would like to clarify the overall status of preservation and open access of materials related to ex-colonial areas in Japan and discuss future issues about preservation and open access of materials in some representative institutions collected many materials related to ex-colonial areas.

Keywords: former colonial rule, cultural institutions, ex-colonial areas in Japan, preservation and open access of materials, digital contents.