The Japan Digital Research Center (JDRC) of the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies was established in 2017 for the purpose of developing new modes of support and collaboration amongst librarians, faculty, and students working in an increasingly digitized and networked environment. It is focused on meeting the opportunities and challenges that international and multilingual digital scholarship presents, and the emphasis is on identifying, building, and sharing innovative and evolving digital resources that advance scholarship for Japan both today and into the future.
Prior to its establishment, the JDRC was known as the Documentation Center of Contemporary Japan (DCJ) and has been one of three libraries housed in the Fung Library with holdings on contemporary China, Japan, and Russia and Eurasia. Although originally focused on the collection of Japanese social science journals, newspapers, and ephemera of postwar Japan, over time the rapid expansion of digital resources became increasingly central to the mission and purpose of the DCJ. In keeping with these changes and ongoing goals to support innovative scholarship that encourages new synergies and opportunities, the Reischauer Institute has redefined the mission of the DCJ and introduced the newly-created Japan Digital Research Center.