{{Short description|Japanese digital library}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox library | native_name = {{lang|ja|青空文庫}} | name = Aozora Bunko | logo = Aozora Bunko Logo.png | image = | caption = | country = Japan | type = Digital library | scope = | established = {{wikidata|property|references|edit|P571}} | ref_legal_mandate = | location = | coordinates = | branch_of = | num_branches = | items_collected = | collection_size = Over 17,700 works (as of January 2026) | criteria = Japanese works in public domain or allowed by author | legal_deposit = | req_to_access = | annual_circulation = | pop_served = | members = | budget = | director = | num_employees = | website = {{Official URL}} | phone_num = }}
'''Aozora Bunko''' ({{lang|ja|青空文庫}}, {{lit|Blue Sky Library}}, 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.<ref name="intute">Intute: [http://www.intute.ac.uk/artsandhumanities/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=humbul17977 "Intute web site, Aozora Bunko project description"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070515113532/http://www.intute.ac.uk/artsandhumanities/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=humbul17977 |date=15 May 2007 }}</ref> 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.<ref name="a1">{{cite web |title=Aozora Bunko |url=http://www.aozora.gr.jp/shomei/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091124033241/http://www.aozora.gr.jp/shomei/ |archive-date=24 November 2009 |access-date=2009-11-01 |publisher=Aozora Bunko |language=ja}}</ref>
==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.<ref>[http://www.ndl.go.jp/en/publication/ndl_newsletter/130/302.html "Electronic Library National Liaison Conference FY2003"], ''National Diet Library Newsletter.'' No. 30, April 2003.</ref>
In Japan, Aozora Bunko is considered similar to Project Gutenberg.<ref name="jto2006">Tamura, Aya. [http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060930f2.html "Novelists, others want copyright protection extended"]. ''The Japan Times Online.'' September 30, 2006.</ref> 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.<ref name="intute" />
After the passing of Michio Tomita in 2013, the {{Nihongo|Future of Books Fund|本の未来基金|hon no mirai kikin}} was established independently to assist funding and operations for Aozora Bunko.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.jp/daisuke-tsuda/post_5529_b_3854138.html|script-title=ja:青空文庫呼びかけ人・富田倫生さんを偲んで／追悼イベントのお知らせ|last=Tsuda|first=Daisuke|date=2013-09-01|work=HuffPost Japan|access-date=2018-02-08|language=ja-JP}}</ref>
Aozora Bunko hosts more than 17,700 books {{As of|2026|01|22|lc=y}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aozora.gr.jp|title=Aozora Bunko|access-date=2026-01-22}}</ref>
==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.<ref name="a1"/>
thumb|right|160px|Graphic icon illustrating Aozora Bunko's opposition to proposed changes to Japan's copyright laws
Japan and other countries accepted the terms of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, an 1886 international agreement about common copyright policies. Aozora Bunko adopted an advocacy role in favor of continuing with the ''statu quo,'' wherein laws do not go beyond the minimum copyright terms of the Berne Convention. These laws have copyrights that run for the lifetime of the author plus 50 years, which Aozora Bunko believes is preferable to changes proposed by numerous influential groups pushing for longer copyright terms.<ref name="a1"/>
The evolution of Aozora Bunko from a digital library to a public policy advocacy organization developed only after the perceived threat to the Aozora Bunko catalog and mission became otherwise unavoidable.<ref name="jto2006"/>
==Problems==
Aozora Bunko pointed out that the extension of the copyright term had been influenced by the document titled "The U.S.–Japan Regulatory Reform and Competition Policy Initiative."<ref>{{cite web |title=U.S.–Japan Regulatory Reform Reports |url=http://aboutusa.japan.usembassy.gov/j/jusaj-econ-doc.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130715230246/http://aboutusa.japan.usembassy.gov/j/jusaj-econ-doc.html |archive-date=2013-07-15 |access-date=2014-06-02 |publisher=Embassy of the United States in Japan}}</ref> 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.<ref name="petition">{{cite web |title=Petition calling for no extension of the term of copyright protection |url=https://www.aozora.gr.jp/shomei/english.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070529191138/https://www.aozora.gr.jp/shomei/english.html |archive-date=May 29, 2007 |access-date=September 28, 2022 |publisher=Aozora Bunko}}</ref>
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.<ref name="petition" />{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}} Instead of the document, the website of the Office of the United States Trade Representative inserted the "United States–Japan Economic Harmonization Initiative" in February 2011.<ref>{{cite web |title=United States–Japan Economic Harmonization Initiative |url=http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2578 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111017000431/http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2578 |archive-date=October 17, 2011 |access-date=September 28, 2022 |publisher=Office of the United States Trade Representative}}</ref> 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,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/12/10/national/japan-extend-copyright-period-works-including-novels-paintings-70-years-dec-30/ |author=JIJI Staff |title=Japan to extend copyright period on works including novels and paintings to 70 years on Dec. 30 |work=The Japan Times |publisher=Jiji Press |date=2018-12-10 |access-date=2018-12-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210074646/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/12/10/national/japan-extend-copyright-period-works-including-novels-paintings-70-years-dec-30/#.XA4Z71Hx8-U |archive-date=2018-12-10 |url-status=dead}}</ref> which was a requirement from the EU–Japan Economic Partnership Agreement.<ref>{{cite web |title=Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the signing, on behalf of the European Union, of the Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Union and Japan, Article 14.13 |url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52018PC0193&from=EN |publisher=European Commission |quote=The term of protection for rights of an author of a literary or artistic work within the meaning of Article 2 of the Berne Convention shall run for the life of the author and for 70 years after the author's death}}</ref>
==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== {{reflist}}
==References== {{refbegin}} * Bovens, Andreas (2005). [https://web.archive.org/web/20080217041654/http://www.japanmediareview.com/japan/stories/050210bovens/ "Closed Architectures for Content Distribution,"] ''Japan Media Review'' (University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication); [http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/ceas/reproduction/bovens.html Yale University Conference (2004), "Reproduction in Modern Japan" -- paper abstract] * Donovan, Maureen H. (2006). [https://doi.org/10.1007%2F11931584_44 ''Accessing Japanese Digital Libraries: Three Case Studies.''] Berlin: Springer. {{ISBN|978-3-540-49375-4}}. * Lessig, Lawrence (2004). [https://books.google.com/books?id=cxZp0sV3V80C&q=Free+Culture:+How+Big+Media+Uses+Technology+and+the+Law+to+Lock+Down+Culture ''Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity.''] New York: Penguin Press. {{ISBN|1-59420-006-8}}, {{ISBN|978-1-59420-006-9}} (cloth) * Tamura, Aya. [http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060930f2.html "Novelists, others want copyright protection extended"], ''The Japan Times Online.'' September 30, 2006. * Tomita, Michio. [https://web.archive.org/web/20111001081811/http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200004/000020000499A0985291.php "Enable Library, ''Aozora Bunko'' as an 'Enable Library'"]. ''Gendai no Toshokan.'' Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 176–181 (1999). * Tomita, Michio. [http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110001013192/en/ "Dream of perpetual Aozora Bunko, a private electronic library,"] ''Art research'' (Ritsumeikan University). Vol.2, pp. 49–56 (2001). * Yamamoto, Shuichiro. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080406114323/http://sciencelinks.jp/content/view/586/33/ "What Is Knowledge That Generates Value?" Science Links Japan web site] (2008). {{refend}}
== External links == * {{Official website|name=Aozora Bunko official website}} {{in lang|ja}} ** [https://www.aozora.gr.jp/aozorablog/ Aozora Bunko official blog] {{in lang|ja}} * [https://honnomirai.net/ The Future of Books Fund] {{in lang|ja}}
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Category:Ebook suppliers Category:Japanese digital libraries Category:Intellectual property activism Category:Japanese literature