Resources
Here are some resources for doing Japanese philosophy. Links marked with ※ are in Japanese. If you have any suggestions for this list, please contact me.
Primary literature
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Contains out-of-copyright copies of texts from many Japanese authors (similar to “Project Gutenberg” in English), such as Nishida, Watsuji, Kuki, etc.
Cumulative list of writings of major Kyoto-School thinkers available in Western languages (List from Nanzan, Nov. 2011)
Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook (UH Press)
Secondary literature
Nanzan Essays in Japanese Philosophy
This is a wonderful collection of scholarly work, and it’s all available to download for free.
Kyōto School Philosophy
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Has handwritten papers by Nishida, Tanabe, etc.
Databases
Journals
Comparative Philosophy (Open Access)
Japan Studies Association (Open Access)
Japan Studies Review (Open Access)
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies (Open Access)
Journal of Japanese Philosophy
A new journal specifically dedicated to Japanese Philosophy. The first issue should publish soon.
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A long established name in Japanese scholarship, Monumenta Nipponica was the first to publish many of the classic articles and translations in the field.
University of Tokyo Center for Philosophy (Open Access)
Societies
Center for East Asian and Comparative Philosophy (東亞哲學和比較哲學研究中心)
Hosted by City University of Hong Kong.
International Center for Chinese Philosophy
Hosted by Soochow University.
The International Society for Comparative Studies of Chinese and Western Philosophy (國際中西哲學比較研究學會)
The Oriental Club of Philadelphia
Founded in 1888.
Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy
In partnership with the American Academy of Religion (AAR).
Japanese Language Resources
Dictionaries
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Gives the etymology of Japanese words.
Philosophy and Ethics Wordbook ※
Fairly limited, but can help when translating some obscure philosophy terms. However, the best technique is just to look it up in Wikipedia then change the language with the sidebar.
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WWWJDIC is the grandfather of all English-Japanese dictionary websites. Be sure to also try Jisho.org, which has the same open source database behind it, but puts a prettier face on the data.
Guides
Tae Kim’s Guide to Learning Japanese
A very nice, grammar-oriented guide to learning Japanese.
Tools
Comparative Chinese “character etymology” tool
A useful tool by Leonardo Boiko for seeing the different forms that kanji can take (traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, Japanese) and their evolution.
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Useful if you need to know the pinyin pronunciation of Japanese character or vice versa.