Aozora Bunko (, , also known as the "Open Air Library") is a Japanese digital library. It encompasses several thousand works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-of-copyright books and works the authors wish to make freely available.

Since its inception in 1997, Aozora Bunko has been both the compiler and publisher of an evolving online catalog. In 2006, Aozora Bunko began to take on a role as a public policy advocate to protect its current and anticipated catalog of freely accessible e-books.

History and operation

thumb|right|160px|This is an explanatory illustration prepared by Aozora Bunko as part of a project encouraging Japanese citizens to contact Diet members in an effort to express a point-of-view.

Aozora Bunko was created in 1997 to provide broadly available, free access to Japanese literary works whose copyrights had expired. The driving force behind the project was Michio Tomita (:ja: 富田 倫生, 1952–2013), who was motivated by the belief that people with a common interest should cooperate with each other.

In Japan, Aozora Bunko is considered similar to Project Gutenberg. Most of the texts provided are works of Japanese literature, with some translations of English literature included as well. The resources are searchable by category, author, or title, with detailed explanations on how to use the platform The files can be downloaded in PDF or viewed online in HTML.

Aozora Bunko hosts more than 17,700 books .

Public policy advocacy

Aozora Bunko joined with others in organizing to oppose changes to Japanese copyright law. They have encouraged Japanese citizens to submit letters and petitions to the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs and to members of the Japanese Diet. Through these annual reports, the US Government was requiring that the protected period of copyright should be extended: 70 years after one's death for a work by an individual, and 95 years after publication for a work by a corporation. In response, the Agency for Cultural Affairs in Japan expressed that a conclusion would be obtained at the Council for Cultural Affairs copyright subcommittee by the end of 2007. If the legal revision extending the protected period of copyright were actually carried out, Aozora Bunko would be forced to stop publishing books that had already been or were about to be released, due to the 20-year extension of copyright protection. Therefore, Aozora Bunko released a counter-declaration against enforcement of the revised law on 1 January 2005, and they started to collect the signatures for a petition on 1 January 2007.

Due to the regime change in Japan in 2009, the Japanese government stopped receiving these reports from the US government. Aozora Bunko did not respond to this, and their petition opposing the extension of the copyright term was discontinued after the October 2008 revision. In the document, the US government promoted the extension of copyright law for the protection of intellectual property rights toward the Japanese government so that it would be "in line with emerging global trends, including those of its OECD counterparts and major trading partners."

On 30 December 2018, Japan did extend the period to 70 years, which was a requirement from the EU–Japan Economic Partnership Agreement.

See also

  • Wikisource
  • List of digital library projects
  • Open Content Alliance
  • UK: Gowers Review of Intellectual Property
  • US: Copyright Term Extension Act
  • Project Runeberg
  • Open Rights Group
  • Philosophy of copyright
  • Permission culture
  • Japanese Historical Text Initiative

Notes

References

  • Bovens, Andreas (2005). "Closed Architectures for Content Distribution," Japan Media Review (University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication); Yale University Conference (2004), "Reproduction in Modern Japan" -- paper abstract
  • Donovan, Maureen H. (2006). Accessing Japanese Digital Libraries: Three Case Studies. Berlin: Springer. .
  • Lessig, Lawrence (2004). Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. New York: Penguin Press. , (cloth)
  • Tamura, Aya. "Novelists, others want copyright protection extended", The Japan Times Online. September 30, 2006.
  • Tomita, Michio. "Enable Library, Aozora Bunko as an 'Enable Library'". Gendai no Toshokan. Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 176–181 (1999).
  • Tomita, Michio. "Dream of perpetual Aozora Bunko, a private electronic library," Art research (Ritsumeikan University). Vol.2, pp. 49–56 (2001).
  • Yamamoto, Shuichiro. "What Is Knowledge That Generates Value?" Science Links Japan web site (2008).
  • Aozora Bunko official blog
  • The Future of Books Fund